Hidden in the Mist
by The KON
Summary: As a child, Naruto is found by Momochi Zabuza, believing he was abandoned he is driven by an undying thirst for vengeance, 14 years after Kyuubi attacked Konoha, Kirikaze Naruto returns to his village... as a member of Team 13 from Kirigakure no Sato. AU
1. Ch 0: The Aftermath

_**ATTENTION!! ATTENTION!! READ THE AN!!**_

**Yo!**

**Well, here's another Naruto story of mine, titled Hidden in the Mist! Anyways, you should have already noticed by now, but if you haven't, I'll clear it up for ya! This is an AU, where Naruto is raised by Zabuza and Haku. Later on (as in, the next chapter) they will get another teammate, and finally they will be admitted back into the Hidden Mist. A bigass influence on Naruto's character in this story comes from SerpentSannin's Puppet Master Naruto! Naturally, I didn't want to copy his character, so I made a few changes here and there... but you'll find that out in due time. Anyways, I'm scraping a few canon parts and going for logic, since there is no way in hell Naruto is younger than Sakura or Sasuke, if he really failed the Genin exam two times. Yeah, Naruto is fourteen.**

**Before I start, I have to apologize for the shortness of this prologue, but it's tough writing monologue's, y'know! The next few chapters will have similar length, but it'll get longer later on. The prologue doesn't introduce Naruto or any other major character, it's mostly Sarutobi talking to Konoha after the Kyuubi attack.**

**Lastly, I haven't settled on a pairing yet and I'm not sure if there will be one, but It's pending between NaruTenTen and NaruTem. No yaoi, or yuri for that matter (although I would've loved to put some in, I just don't have the talent to pull it off (yet!)) so those that are into that, get out, except for you yuri fans. You're cool, you can stay.**

**Without further delay, I present you...**

_ --Hidden in the Mist--_

_ --a Naruto story--_

_The KON  
_

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_-Prologue-_

_**The Aftermath**_

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It was over! All the shinobi slumped back onto the ground, their breath quick and unruly. Sarutobi was leaning against his staff, just wishing to fade away so that the terrible heat would dissapear. His old weary eyes drifted to the giant red toad, surprised to see his succesor still standing. Knowing that the Yondaime may be on his last few breaths, he performed a Shunshin and appeared on the toad with a puff of smoke. Seeing the blonde Hokage on his knees caused him to hurry forwards and keep his student's student from falling unconscious.

"Minato-kun..." He whispered, gazing at the blonde in his arms. The man threw him a sickly grin before his face crunched up in pain and his body twitched uncontrolably. The ex-Hokage hugged the blonde tightly, as if to guide him through the momentary pain.

A few seconds passed, and the blonde calmed down. He finally opened his mouth, and with a weak, drained voice managed to shoot out a question.

"W-Where's m-my s-son?" The old man holding him looked away from the two piercing blue orbs... The Yondaime, as if all his strength had returned, sat up, a mixed look of surprise and dread on his face.

"Sarutobi, where's my boy?" The gray haired shinobi sent the younger Hokage a pained look, hoping that he'd understand and spare him from informing him vocally. Blue eyes widened and a few tears found their way down his chin. "No!! It can't be!!" He yelled, spit flying out his mouth, not that he cared. Right now, his son was the most important thing to him. For more than one reason.

"I'm sorry..." The former Fire Shadow whispered, with considerate regret evident in his voice.

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Sarutobi was rubbing his temples, giving his best to restrain the coming headache. The masses were gathering, but it would be along time before they all gathered. Afterall, the news of the Kyuubi's defeat still hadn't reached everyone. And those that did hear about it were most likely doubting it. Not like he could blame them, if he wasn't an eye witness, he'd be hiding in the mountains.

With a sigh, he let himself plump into the chair. Feeling a momentary pain, he snapped a careless eye towards the two ANBU that were standing on each side of him.

"Kakashi, do you have the final reports?" The old man asked, and the ANBU with a dog mask shook his head.

"Unfortunately no. As of now, the victim count is as high as three-hundred and sevety-three Jounin, one-hundred and three Chuunin, and we still didn't find any Genin. The civilian count is much lower, since they were already in the mountain road since two weeks ago. Fifty-seven so far." The ANBU commander said without emotion, as if he wanted to be anywhere but here. But, one must furfill his duty.

The old man noticed this and called him on it. "I know you'd rather be at the hospital, but the village needs you. I need you, and I know Minato is stronger than you think, he'll pull through it." His drained voice spoke, awakening at least a bit of the ANBU commander's patriotic feelings for the village.

"Did you find his son?" Sarutobi inquired after what seemed like hours of silence. Once again, dog mask shook his head.

"No, I had my best squads comb the entire forest, more than once. They didn't even find a single string of hair." Sarutobi frowned.

"This... Have them comb out the nearby villages, perhaps a civilian of sorts found him. And send a squad of Inuzuka trackers after anything that smells even remotely like Minato." Sarutobi snapped.

"Will do." The ANBU commander said and dissapeared in a puff of smoke.

Sarutobi sighed once again and relaxed ever-so-slightly. Shortly after finding out that his son had dissapeared without trace, the Yondaime slipped into a coma. He would probably live, if his luck served him well. That caused a frown to form on the old man's already wrinkled face.

Minato had sacrificed his soul to the Shinigami in exchange for sealing the Kyuubi, and if he succeeded, there would be no coma. Only a body. With that realization, his eyes widened... That would mean that the fox was still loose... But... no... that just couldn't be true, besides, he saw ithe beast dissapear, tail by tai--!!

His eyes widened at the possibility, and without thinking it through, he motioned for the ANBU.

"Tenzou, I want the best seal master we have prepare a dozen Chakra Surpression Seals, then take a squad of Aburame to the forest. I want their bugs to sniff out any remnaints of the beasts's Chakra." He paused, "If you come across a fox that looks out of proportion, slam those seals on it the very second you see it." The ANBU nodded. "I want the reports of what you found on my desk by morning." After Sarutobi finished his sentence, the ANBU dissapeared in a puff of smoke.

Once again, the old man started to massage his temples, problem after problem seemed to appear. After this, he would almost definitely take a vacation... three years after passing on the title of Hokage to the best ninja he had ever seen, it was apparent that he was awfully out of shape.

Silently hoping that Jiraiya's blonde student would get out of this mess and spare him the pain of either taking the title back or giving it to someone who still didn't quite deserve it, the old man slumped back in his not-so-comfortable chair. His weary eyes were once again dead-set on the crowd that was gathering infront of the still standing Hokage Tower. Closing his eyes, he gathered all that he knew about his oncoming problems, and the paperwork that would no doubt come out of it.

Alright, so far, he had three reaccuring problems, and they werenaturally all connected by the red-furred demon that attacked them not less thantwelve hours ago.

First, the Yondaime's son, Naruto. Minato had sacrificed his life, his afterlife and the life of his son so that he could save the village. In the middle of it all, the fox had somehow managed to lash out at the giant toad and the Yondaime on top of it, causing the sealing to go unexpectedly wrong. The demon dissapeared, but so did it's vessell.

Naruto was just a baby, so the possibility of the small bundle actually standing up and simply walking away shouldn't even be considered. He frowned, the two most likely options were pretty grim.

The child could either be dead, not unlikely but still a possibility that had a small chance of happening, but he could've also have been found by someone and taken away.

Or, the least possible possibility, judging by his current luck, was that the child was still lying there in the forest, crying it's heart out. Sarutobi, with all the politeness a man of his stature could have, only managed one word. "Fuck."

And yet, that was not all. His succesor-slash-predecessor-slash-succesor again once he wakes up, was lying in a coma while he should, by all accounts be dead. Once you perform the Hakke no Fuuin Shiki and the Shinigami appears, it's over. He takes your soul in exchange for whatever you desire. Unless that is not possible, then nothing occurs. The Shinigami is a man... uh... creature? No, that would mean it's alive... thing! The Shinigami is a thing of it's word afterall.

Slightly amused by his inner conflict, Sarutobi got back to the matter at hand. Once you performed the seal, you die. There is no coma, nothing. Simple, painless, death—without the afterlife. But Minato was in a coma... a weak one at that, he would awaken in a week tops. And that meant that the deal wasn't furfilled, either completely or at all.

Which meant that the Kyuubi was still loose. Scowling at his revelation, he shook his head. No, no, that couldn't be. Hn... The most obvious proof to deny his theory was the fact that he existed at that very moment. And there certainly wasn't a rampant, raging, nine-tailed demon fox crashing mountains and causing tsunami's around him. Not as far as his eyesight went... Okay, that wasn't particularly reasurring, since he needed glasses to see anything further away from him than three feet.

Right, so that meant that only a part of the fox was out, and the other part was sealed in the infant that was still to be found. That was the reason why he sent those Aburame out for a chakra hunt, while he silently hoped that he was wrong, a small, quiet voice in the back of his head was telling him how true his suspicions really were.

Gods, he was tired, both in body and mind. Tired wasn't really the word for it, he thought, dead but breathing would be a more accurate term. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he relaxed once again and then opened his eyes. The remnaints of the village were packed, and people were still flooding in from the gates. He decided that he'd wait for another ten minutes before starting his little speech.

Practically drowning in the troubles that weren't supposed to be his, he tried to relax, ignoring the noise of the external world. Using visualisation to isolate himself further from the outside world, he found himself sitting in a full-lotus position in a small and sunny clearing. It was... beautiful... and peaceful, oh so peaceful... beautiful contrast to the real world.

Instead of thinking of whatever was troubling him, he focused on the good points in his life so far. Not really finding much, Sarutobi slightly tensed. Then relaxed and slightly shifted his position, his head leaning towards the right, with his feet still entangled together. A spectator would wince when thinking of the pain the old man must be feeling in his legs, but Sarutobi didn't feel a thing... only sheer nirvana... so peaceful...

"Hokage-sama!" Abruptly brought out of his meditation, the slightly unnerved former Hokage snapped at his intruder.

"What?!" The man he identified as a Chuunin named Satoshi winced at the old man's tone before bowing once more.

"Hokage-sama, the village is packed, we can't take any more people. We must shut the gates!" Satoshi explained and Sarutobi grudgingly nodded. The Chuunin performed a single handsign and dissapeared in a puff of smoke. Several seconds later, the crowd shifted towards the exit of the village when the gates slowly but surely started to close.

Groaning sliently, the former Hokage of Konohagakure stood up. With slow steps, while clearing his throat, he approached the microphone. With a loud thump, the gates of Konoha closed and the murmuring amongst the crowd got louder by the second. Gathering his words, Sarutobi looked around the crowd and spotted some of his closest associates, who promptly nodded to him in an effort of encouraging him. Eh, easier said than done.

"My people!" He started and the crowd immedeatilly shut up. "A great tragedy has befallen on our village. Countless victims... shinobi and civilians alike... But we made it through!" He said almost victoriously, his voice booming across every corner in the village, his voice being absorbed by every listening citizen like a sponge.

"But at what cost?" Sarutobi whispered softly. He regained his composure and resumed with his speech. "No, your eyes are not deceiving you. I am the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha. The hero that saved us, the Yondaime, was willing to sacrifice his life to save us from the Kyuubi's wrath." This caused some hastened whispers in the crowd, but they were quick to shut their mouth when the former Hokage continued his speech.

"While he is not dead, he is in a coma. The medic's aren't sure about his condition, but so far, it is certain that he will wake up." He said while frowning, this certainly caused some commotion.

"But..." The old man started once again. "We have much more pressing matters at hand." Seeing the expected reaction, he continued.

"Our village is in ruin, it is not a matter of 'if' but a matter of 'when' Iwa or some other village attack us. Our forces are decimated, and we cannot defend ourselves." The whispers got louder and louder, until they weren't whispers anymore, but full-blown arguements.

"Silence!" Everything went quiet in an instant. "That... is why I'm calling for a country-wide mobilization." There was chaos. Konoha almost never utilized the services of shinobi that weren't born and raised in the village. There were exceptions, such as the ninja from Whirlpool country when their village was destroyed, or during the Second Great Shinobi War, when a certain white-haired boy from Suna was admitted into the Academy.

But... it had been more than thirty years since Konoha last called for the services of foreign shinobi (well, they weren't really foreign but...). And even then, they weren't even necessary! But for Konoha, the greatest of the Big Five to be this desperate... that was certainly a reason to be worried.

"We will send a representative to each minor village in Hi no Kuni, and some to the clans that don't live in Konoha." He paused for a brief second once he noticed that an ANBU had appeared behind him. "And we might need to ask the Daimyo for help."

Those people that weren't worried before certainly were now. Konoha had never asked their Daimyo for anything before. It was always the other way around. Hell, if you asked ten people in the village, at least seven of them wouldn't even know the Daimyo's name!

Meanwhile, the old man had created a Kage Bunshin that was talking to the ANBU that appeared.

"Sarutobi-san, the final reports have arrived." The ANBU commander started. "Four hundred and twenty one Jounin, one hundred and fifty two Chuunin, thirty one Genin and seventy seven civilians." The bunshin winced. "Six hundred and eighty one victims in total. Almost seven hundred. Quite the number, don't you think?" Kakashi said emotionlessly. The clone nodded and dissapeared in a puff of smoke.

Feeling the information sink in, Sarutobi winced. He prepared himself to continue his speech, when he heard a question amongst the crowd. "-should we ask the Daimyo for anything?" The old man blinked.

"What?" He inquired, before identifying the man who asked the question as one of Danzou's most favoured followers. The former Hokage rolled his eyes. Figures.

"Why should we ask the Daimyo for anything?" The slightly irritated voice repeated his question. Confused, Sarutobi cleared his throat.

"Care to elaborate, Shoukou-san?"

"I meant, why should we ask the Daimyo for anything? That would just be a sign of weakness, and any village could use it against us." The man identified as Shoukou noted, and several people around him nodded in agreement. He did have a point.

"No matter how right you think you are, we ARE weak at the moment." Sarutobi said with a scowl.

"The reason we need the Country of Fire's help is that any village could use our situation against us. I know how hotheaded some of you are with this topic but, there is no other choice." The man scowled, obviously not happy with the answer he received, but it would have to do.

"Now, the final reports have just arrived." He started. "The victim count is very high, almost seven hundred." Finishing his sentence, he winced the second he saw their reaction. "Six hundred and eighty one victims in total; four hundred and twenty one Jounin, one hundred and fifty two Chuunin, thirty one Genin and seventy seven civilians." The former Hokage finished. Frowning, he continued his monologue.

"_This_, is exactly the reason we will be needing the Fire Daimyo's assistance. On our own, we will not be able to rebuild the village. We need all the help we can get, this isn't a matter of pride, we simply need the help!" Sarutobi stressed. A scowl showed up on his face when he saw the glare in Uchiha Fugaku's eyes standing in the front row.

"Some of you," He paused, looking at the Uchiha head. "May think that this is a shameful move, that we are begging for help. It couldn't be further from the truth. By helping us, in essence, Hi no Kuni is helping itself. We are the source of it's military might, and without us they are as helpless as a rat when facing a snake." Content with the way the Uchiha's face lightened up a bit, he stopped, gathering his next words.

"However, the task of rebuilding the village is not the only problem we have right now." Almost instantly, the faces of various clan heads snapped towards him, as if predicting his next words.

"We have some... administrational issues as well." Frowning as he saw Danzou grinning, he continued. "We will have to set up a temporary council, and assign a temporary Hokage."

"Anou..." Hyuuga Hikari, the wife of the Hyuuga clan head Hiashi, who was in the hospital at the moment, spoke. "Does that mean that you—" Her question was interrupted by the answer.

"Yes." The old man spoke with certainty. "I will not take up the position, at all. Not even if the Yondaime dies. That is for certain." He failed to notice Danzou tensing when he heard his little slip-up.

_'Hn. Heh, old man, you are getting senile afterall. Weren't you so certain that Namikaze would wake up before?'_ The retired shinobi general thought smugly, certain that he would find some use in this information.

Seeing the dissapointed look in the Hyuuga woman's pupilless eyes, Sarutobi let a small smile appear on his face. "I am too old, my time has passed." He noted sadly. With a quick recovery, he adressed the situation. "This will be properly debated over the council meeting however, it is not a matter to be discussed quite so openly." He noted seriously.

"However, I can assure you that he or she will be a great shinobi. That much is definite." With that, he sighed.

"We have yet another problem." He started darkly. "Though, this one is more personal." This got the attention of several clan heads.

"The Yondaime's child is missing." He didn't like the way Danzou's eyes darkened at this. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but he was interrupted by someone in the crowd.

"Sarutobi-kun," It was his former teammate, Koharu. "With all due respect, but why are we concerned with this? For all we know, he might be dead! It is a tragedy, I'm sure, but so are the other victims of the attack." Seeing the glare from Sarutobi, she took a step back.

"Because, Koharu-chan," He started in a mocking tone. "Because, he is the container." He finished darkly, noting the shocked looks from some _smarter_ people in the crowd, as well as those who were clueless.

"T-the container? W-what do you mean, Hokage-sama?" One of the 'braver' and richer civilians asked, earning a glare from the man he adressed.

"First of all, I'm not the Hokage anymore. Second of all, what, did you really think an immortal demon could be killed?" Seeing that they were slowly realizing what he was saying, he decided to go all the way.

"You can't kill it. It's not possible. What you can do, however, is seal it. Which is the only way to defeat it." He finished.

"Th-then that means--!!" Inuzuka Shinto, the head of the Inuzuka clan yelped.

"Yes."

"Minato-kun's child, the one that is missing..." He started, his eyes distant.

"Is the container of the Kyuubi no Youko."

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A/N:

**Yo again! Hope you liked it, if there were some parts that felt rushed... it's because they were. I was writing furiously the last couple of days, passing by dozens of drafts, since I was long overdue, finally, I settled on this little piece of work. Meh, can't say I'm really satisfied, but I'll manage.**

**Anyways, I'll probably update Job Description: Assassin next, after that maybe I'l get to write the long anticipated second chapter of School of Cool... if you want to thank anyone for the long wait, by all means, do pay a visit to RyushiTheDutchEroSennin, my dear partner on the fic that still hasn't given me his part on chapter two. And after that, I'll see you guys again back here! The next chapter is fourteen years later, the Chuunin Exams where we meet Team Zabuza! Sadly, there won't be a lot of action, but what the hell. **

_**By the way, I am in dire need for a beta! Really! I need someone reliable! You've seen my grammar, you know what I mean! **_

**So... see ya next time I suppose.**


	2. Ch 1: Enter Naruto!

**Author's Notes**

**Hey guys! As you see, I'm back with the first chapter of Hidden in the Mist, titled... well, you'll see if you haven't seen it yet. Anyhow, this chapter takes place fourteen years later after the prologue. I'll introduce the members of Naruto's team and a couple of minor characters, as well as an OC that's gonna get his ass handed to him. But... you'll see. **

**Oh and, just to warn you, the fight scene is pretty much crap, but I was in a hurry, I'll probably change it later on.**

_--Hidden in the Mist--_

_--a Naruto story--_

_The KON_

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_-Chapter 1--_

_**Enter – Naruto**_

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_Fourteen years later_

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She regretted the day they declined that C-rank mission to Wave, but she also regretted that they accepted the mission to the Hidden Snow. Sasuke-kun had defeated two Chuunin-level ninja on his own, and Kiba managed to convince the princess/actress to stay in the village and take on her duty as a princess. Kakashi-sensei defeated two Jounin-level ninja, and what did she do? Poor old Sakura got captured by the enemy nin and had to rely on her teammates to rescue her. Not to mention her cheering from the sidelines when Kakashi was fighting that old guy.

Her teammates hadn't taken that well at all. They had been ignoring and glaring at her all the way back to Konoha.

Her punishment made her feel all that tenfold... Team 7 had been nominated as a candidate for the Chuunin exams, and their test was a D-rank mission that should've been put up as A rank. Namely, the Sandaime's grandson had dissapeared once again, and truthfully, not even a trained Inuzuka hound, or even the famed Kirigakure Hunter nin would find him if he really paid attention.

Her punishment was... the mission being handed to her. To her ALONE. And this was Konohamaru they were talking about, which meant they had an almost ninety percent failure rate. Which meant that they would fail the chance to participate in the exams! Scratch that, that meant that SHE would fail the chance to participate in the exams!

_'I gotta find him, or else they'll castrate me!'_ Sakura stopped dead in her tracks. Something was_ seriously _off with that. As soon as she realised what she was thinking, she shuddered.

"Gah, I've really gotta stop spending time with Kiba..." She muttered. Sakura quickly jumped off the building she was atop of and slowly crept up to the area of interest. She frowned as soon as she saw the contrast of colors on the wall. For such a sneaky Academy student, Konohamaru had made a rather hilarious mistake. How would anyone NOT notice him? The wall was white and the rag he was using to hide himself was red. She allowed a malicious grin to form on her face...

The pinkette cracked her knuckles, it was payback time!

She took slow, silent steps, trying to be as stealthy as possible. She pulled her tight fist back and as soon as she was a foot away from the location she was sure Konohamaru was at, her punch hit dead center.

But instead of her fist cracking the wall, an explosion did the same and threw her back.

"GYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!" She heard a loud, spitefull laugh above her. "Tell that old ape that a stupid, ugly onee-chan like you can NEVER catch me!!" The short pre-teen hollered from his hiding place. Sakura quickly shot up and trailed the sound of his voice, but soon noticed that it wasn't needed since the boy was running like a maniac through the empty streets of Konoha. She quickly cursed the Hokage for giving her such a mission; she should've known that the moment the word 'punishment' was mentioned, accompanied by that damn grin of his, nothing good would come of this.

She gathered some chakra into her legs and formed several handsigns, then took several steps forward. Soon, her sprint got faster and faster; this way, she'd get him in no time!

_'Why that good for nothing son of a bastard! I'll make sure he never escapes again, even if I have to break his goddamn legs!!'_ She thought angrily, then, images of breaking the young Academy students legs entered her mind, causing her inner self to cheer in joy. As long as it guaranteed that no one (note: Sakura) would have to spend their day in search for the tiny little bastard, her action(s) would be useful.

The scarfed ten-year old was soon within her eyesight and her green eyes glinted in satisfaction. She gathered chakra into her fists and readied herself to deliver the blow.

Oh, she was going to enjoy this...

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_Several minutes earlier_

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"Name, rank, purpose of visit?" The ANBU infront of the gate asked the four visitors. Man, whenever the Chuunin Exams were held in Konoha, they had a ton of work every day. His shift was about 4 hours long, give or take a few minutes, but jumping from the gate and jumping back at the top of it always forced him to sleep as soon as he reached his home. And that was during the normal season! Now that the Chuunin Exams were being held, he was sure to take a week off as soon as possible.

"Team 13 from Kirigakure, Jounin teacher Momochi Zabuza, and my three students, I would like to keep their identities hidden if possible. Though they are all Genin, and we are here for the Chuunin exams." The ANBU guard nodded, the man standing before him was indeed a sight to be afraid of. He had short black hair, equally black, deadly eyes, the lower part of his face was covered in white bandage. He wore a standard dark purple Kiri uniform. But perhaps the most outstanding thing about the Mist Jounin was the huge Zanbatou strapped on his back. From beneath the mask, the ANBU's eyes widened considerably when it hit him.

The man standing before him was one of the seven Legendary Mist swordsmen. He wasn't called 'Zabuza the Devil' for nothing.

The only reason Kirigakure took him back when he turned nuke-nin was his skill and his ruthlesness.

The fact that the very Zanbatou he had on his back was inches away from the new Mizukage's neck, who was at the time considering whether he should sign the acceptance papers or not (seeing that his predecessor resigned out of fear of assassination).

Needless to say, the papers were signed.

The Yondaime Mizukage quit the very next day.

The ANBU guarding the gate decided that it would be best to let him pass, and get rid of him as soon as possible.

He motioned for the gate to open and a second later it did. The Jounin nodded towards the village and three individuals appeared behind him. They all strolled towards the village, leaving a deadly silence in their tracks.

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They entered the gates and immedeatilly absorbed their surroundings. They took notice of the fact that it was _NOTHING_ like the Mist. Whereas Kirigakure was quite a busy town, it was busy in the Shinobi sense. The Leaf was filled with civilians; well, either that, or the shinobi were so good at stealth that they were able to disguise the majority of their population.

Merchant's yelling out prices, women chattering, kids playing and birds chirping, those were the sounds that greeted them.

Zabuza then prompted to walk infront of the trio. "Alright," He started, "The Exam is tommorow, you do whatever you want today, as long as you appear on time."

"Appear where, Zabuza-sama?" The one with the longest hair of the three asked.

"Honestly, I don't know. Ask around, see what you can find out. " The swordsman said in a nonchalant way. Then, the redhead in the center voiced her mind.

"Oi, but where are we supposed to sleep?" It looked like Zabuza was sending them a grin, though they were unable to see through the bandages he was using for a mask.

"I don't care, on the street, hotel, inn... Do whatever you want." The girl frowned.

"Anyways, I have to take care of, y'know, business. Need to sign you guys up. You're free to go."

He said, before forming a seal and dissolving into water.

"...I hate it when he does that..." The redhead noted as they continued their little stroll. "He thinks he's so damn cool with that little trick..." She said with a scowl, the boy next to her simply smiled.

"Ah, he's been doing that since I met him. Anyways, what are you going to do now, Tayuya-san?" He inquired, the girl now dubbed as Tayuya just shrugged.

"Try to find a weapons shop, I guess. I mean, I haven't restocked since that mission to Cloud. There's bound to be some use of them in the exam." She noted and the boy grinned. "What about you, Haku?" She asked.

"I'll most likely go inquire where the first Exam is being held, and try to find some place we can spend the night. Oh, buy me some senbon needles while you're there, will you?" She nodded. "What about you, Naruto?" Haku asked the blonde that was walking next to him, who just shrugged it off.

"Oh, right, the seals." The black-haired boy noted, and Naruto simply nodded.

"I think it's time to split up. We should come back here in two hours, ne? By that time, I should've already found a hotel or something." Haku said while his teammates nodded.

"Right, I'll go in this direction, Tayuya, you go that way and Naruto, you should take the left." The effeminate boy stated and they did so, each of them walking off in their own direction.

The blonde had spent a few minutes simply walking, looking for any open ramen stand before he found a rather... strange scene going on a few hundred feet infront of him. A girl with _pink_ hair, (he'd never seen anything like it, okay, Tayuya had red hair but...actually bright pink!) he briefly wondered if it was natural, most likely a shinobi if her chakra-enchanced limbs were any indication, and a kid with a longass scarf who didn't look any older than eight or nine being chased by her.

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Her chakra-filled punch didn't even have a chance to hit the young pre-Academy brat, since she powered it down the second she saw Konohamaru struggling while being kept in check by some stranger.

Sakura then proceeded to size the stranger up, immedeately taking notice of his strange attire.

The stranger was a boy, quite short actually, probably just a tad taller than she was, and had pale... _pale, _almost porculean-like white skin. She then looked at his face, noticing the strange whisker-like lines on each cheek and his blue eyes. Briefly wondering if they were real, her gaze wandered towards his bright blonde hair. It was slicked back, though still a bit spiked in the front. Then, her emerald green eyes snapped towards his forehead, wanting to see if he had a Hitai-ate.

'_Kirigakure Shinobi...' _Was her initial thought, '_Most likely here for the Chuunin exams.'_ Not that it mattered, as long as she would catch that little hellspawn, he could be an Oni for all she cared.

Her eyes then travelled towards his chest, which was covered by a dark gray, nearing black kimono that was cut off from the torso down. He wore a pair of dark blue colored shinobi style pants, which had a kunai pouch strapped to it with some bandages.

"Thanks!" She shouted when she got within hearing distance, the blonde just nodded showing no emotion. He just plomped the brunnette down and he landed with a small thud. Then, the stranger proceeded to walk away. Once the boy was out of sight, Sakura turned to the little bastard.

"So..." She started darkly. "Stupid and ugly, huh?" When she slammed her glowing blue fist into her open palm, Konohamaru whimpered.

OooOooO

Momochi Zabuza was currently walking through the corridors of the Hokage tower. It didn't take him long to find it; it _was_ the tallest building in the village afterall, but finding the Hokage's office did prove tricky, since it was like a maze on the inside. One would think that most of the inhabitants of said tower would be ninja, but from his point of view they looked like mere civilians. Of course, shinobi are supposed to be good at masking their true selves.

Leaving that aside for now, he decided that he had spent more than enough time wandering around aimlessly. He walked up to the first person he saw—an old man—and decided to ask for directions. "I'm sorry sir, but do you know the directions to the Hokage's office?" The gray-haired elder turned to him and spared him a weak look with his weary eyes, before giving him the answer to his question.

"Sure, young man." Ignoring the obvious fact that he was closing in on his fortieth year at a kunai's pace, Zabuza nodded. "Take the stairs to the tenth floor, the door with the two ANBU guarding the door." The man said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. The mist nin nodded once more.

"Thank you." He said with a bow before walking off in the directions he was given. He didn't fail to notice the stare that lingered on him until he turned around the corner.

Setting it aside as justified suspicion, he continued onwards as the old man had said. After finding the stairs and making his way up to the tenth floor (making some comments about an elevator on the way) he did indeed find two ANBU guarding a door.

As soon as he stepped infront of them, one of them walked up to him and looked (Or did he? He couldn't really tell because of the mask) him in the eye.

"Name, purpose of visit and your weapons." Neko asked. Zabuza sighed underneath his mask and gave him his answer.

"Momochi Zabuza, Jounin of Kirigakure no Sato, I am here to apply my team for the Chuunin exams." He stated while handing them his kunai pouch and some of the senbon needles he had in his sleeve. When he tried to walk past the ANBU he got stopped by a kunai in front of his head. "What is it?" He sighed. They only pointed at his Zanbatou.

"Hey, you don't really expect me to hand it over, do you?" He inquired sarcastically, but when he saw that they didn't budge, he gave a silent chuckle. "Look, I'm not giving it to you, so you might as well move away." He said.

They still didn't move, but he could hear their heartbeat pacing up. Good, that meant that his age hadn't affected his effect on people. "Son, by your voice I can see that you are still young... Usually, the people that unnerve me are the ones that end up filleted like fishes. Move. Away." He said venomously, with a sharp glare directed at Neko.

When he saw that they didn't move an inch, he actually gripped his sword, ready to use it.

But then they were interrupted by a shout from inside the room.

"Neko-san, you may let him in." A female voice shouted, and unbeknownst to the two infuriated ANBU, Zabuza grinned from beneath his mask. They stepped aside and the former Nuke-nin

walked past them.

On the other side of the door was an office, but obviously not the one he was looking for. The desk was positioned near the window, which was on the left side of the room. The whole office was painted in beige, even the desk was the same color! A woman was seated behind the desk, somehow, he doubted that she was the Hokage.

But then again, the Mizukage was a woman as well.

She had shoulder-length raven hair, bright blue eyes and a heart-shaped face. One would be foolish to say that she wasn't attractive, but Zabuza currently wasn't interested in that. Before he could voice his question, he got his answer.

"No, Zabuza-san, this is not the Hokage's office." She started. "I am Hokage-sama's secretary." The Jounin from the Mist nodded. The secretary sighed and started rubbing her temples.

"You must excuse Neko-san and Inu-san, they are just cautious. After the whole ordeal with the Kazekage, it is only expected." Zabuza winced at that. Truly, the attempted assasination had echoed out through the entire continent. The one who tried it died shortly afterwards by swallowing poison. "And I'm sorry, but you simply can't look innocent with that Zanbatou strapped to your back." She finished with a hint of amusement in her voice. The Jounin nodded again, heh, he seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

"Anyhow, Hokage-sama's office." She noted. "Just release the Genjutsu." All of a sudden, Zabuza felt like an idiot. Of course this was a Genjutsu, how else would they hide the Hokage without getting out of the tower? He twisted his hands into the Ram seal and whispered 'Kai'.

Then, the room morphed. The former beige color was replaced by brown, the desk was now in the middle of the room. However the most glaring difference was that the desk wasn't occupied by the woman. It was occupied by the Hokage of Konohagakure. It was hard to stay focused, but Zabuza gave it his best. Under that blue-eyed gaze, even the toughest shinobi could only bow in utter worthlessnes.

"Momochi Zabuza." The blonde man said, and the Jounin surpressed the urge to swallow his saliva. This... was this killer intent? Or was it just the sheer presence of the greatest leader amongst the Five Great Nations? For a moment, he felt as if his tongue was paralysed, but he quickly regained his composure.

"Hai."

"You're here to apply your team for the Chuunin exams, are you not?" The reformed Nuke-nin

nodded.

"Then... what are you waiting for?"

OooOooO

A few minutes passed since Naruto found a place that had his precious meal on the 'Special' list. Namely, Ichiraku Ramen. Ah, how he missed the heaven that is ramen. He hadn't eaten a single one of his precious noodles since that mission to Kumo... That was a crime against the Gods themselves!

The Ichiraku Ramen stand was THE stand in Konoha. It's creator, Ichiraku Shoten was a cook that served in the first Great Shinobi War. Actually, he was an Akimichi, but he decided to abandon the clan after an arguement about his cooking. The truth was, the Akimichi were only carnivore's. They ate only meat, they did so since their creation. That was one thing that Akimichi Chouji would change about eighty years later, when he opened his first bag of chips. Since the clan didn't approve of his love for ramen, Shoten left the clan and started his own. Anyways, back to the matter at hand. Ichiraku Shoten served in ANBU squad one. One day, before a decisive battle, the Shodaime Hokage paid them a visit, to raise their morale a bit. After his speech, he wandered into Shoten's tent, and found him sitting at his table, with a pencil in his hand, a sheet of paper on the desk, and him pulling his own hair out.

"Why are you here, why aren't you at the field?!" The Shodaime had asked that day. After noticing that his Hokage was in the same room as him, he started stuttering.

"I-I-I'm t-trying to c-come up w-with a n-new r-recipe for ra-ra-ramen..." Luckily for him, the Shodaime actually liked ramen.

"Hmmm, were you now? Tell you what, make me a bowl and I'll let this slide." Shoten had nodded, did as he was ordered and served the Hokage a bowl of Miso ramen.

Slowly, the chopsticks were getting near the Shodaime's mouth. Munch. Munch. Munch.

His eyes started to glow... this... this was heavenly!

"From now on, you're my personal cook!" And that is how the legend began. After the Shodaime's death and the appointment of his brother as the Nidaime, the newly founded Ichiraku clan got a compound to call their own. Slowly, their clan grew, and soon, there were nearing the milestone of fifty members. They opened their own restaurant, which was reserved for the crem de la crem of Konoha. It was said that the Uchiha clan was founded after the son of Hyuuga Takeda and Yuuhi Yukio heard Shoten's story from his grandson Niten. But that was proved false later on. Anyhow, every Hokage after the Shodaime was a frequent visitor of Ichiraku's, as was the case with the God of Shinobi, the Sandaime Hokage, who first found about his new title in said restaurant. He was eating a bowl of Miso ramen at the time.

But, without any doubt, their most famous guest was the Yondaime Hokage. Three visit's per day was his week average, and five bowls per visit was his daily average. He singlehandedly filled their safe one day. Anyhow, like everything in life, the reign of Ichiraku's ended. The tenth of October, the Kyuubi attacked. One of the fox's tails swished over the restaurant and it was burned to the ground. The Ichiraku clan was reduced down to ten members, with the grandson of it's creator stil alive. But, since they lost everything that day, they couldn't afford to buy a new space where they could build a new restaurant. That was the end of the Ichiraku's... Seven years later, only two members were alive, one Ichiraku Teuchi and his daughter Ayame.

But thanks to a donation made by the ruling Hokage, they could at least open a stand, which was a new beggining for the both of them.

Another seven years later, Ichiraku Ayame was left gaping at the apetite of one foreign shinobi who still didn't speak a word to her. Was he mute?

That was his _twentieth_ bowl in _half an hour!_ How was that even possible?! Not that she minded though, he'd be paying her two week salary if he stayed just a little bit longer. Judging by his current apetite, that was a given.

With a silent thump, he was finished with his bowl, and Ayame could swear that he was _growling _for more...

"Another bowl of Miso?" She asked with a smile and the blonde nodded furiously. The brunnette's smile only grew wider as she went to prepare another bowl for the young ninja.

"You still haven't told me your name." She noted while pouring the noodles into the giant heater, where the water was boiling. All she got in response was a weak grunt. Hmmm, maybe he was mute afterall? Ah well, as long as he continued to finance her fashion sense, she didn't mind.

Soon, while chopping up some vegetables, she started humming a catchy tune. While she didn't really understand shinobi business (she failed the Academy three times in a row and was forced into early 'retirement') she remembered enough to know that that forehead protector wasn't from Konoha, those four diagonal lines... he was from the Hidden Mist.

Soon, the air was filled with tapping sounds, she turned around to check out what it was and saw him tapping against the counter, which caused her to grin. It was obvious how much he loved her cooking, (unknown to her, the blonde was a fanatic when it came to ramen, and it didn't depend on the cook. But in all actuality, he had to admit that this was the best ramen he ever tasted) and like any other living and breathing female, she took his impatience as a compliment.

_'I better hurry up, or he'll bite my head off!'_ She thought in amusement. In less than a minute, she placed the steaming bowl of bliss on the counter in front of the blonde.

With a smile, she watched him empty the contents in record speed.

Her smile was quite short-lived, however, when the curtains moved aside and someone entered the stand.

OooOooO

"Team 13," Zabuza started. "Based in Itono in Mizu no Kuni, affiliated with Kirigakure no Sato. Three years of age." He finished dryly. Man, he hated this professional voice of his.

"Jounin sensei, Momochi Zabuza, thirty-two years old, born in Kirigakure no Sato. This is my first team."

"Momochi Haku, my adopted son, Genin, fifteen years old. Born in Itono. Posseses a Kekkei Genkai that makes it possible for him to control ice. Has been with us for three years." Rules said that he should list all abilities the member's of his team possess. But like any normal ninja, he left at least one trump card in his pocket... In his case, more than one.

OooOooO

Misao Saigo was a proud individual, and he was generally seen as the 'cool' one in their group that consisted of six members. In all actuallity, he was downright arrogant and thought that everything and everybody in the world were below him. As a civilian in a shinobi village, that was one dumb thing to think. But, idiots exist.

So, one day, he sees this brunnette leave this ramen stand. He thinks that she is hot and walks up to her with his five goonies. Looking all cool, a cigarete in his mouth, he asks her a question to which he already knows the answer to.

"Yo, cutie, listen, I know, you think I'm hot, so why don'tcha spare me the trouble of being curteous and go out with me tonight?" He says while driving his hands through his red hair. His strange yellow eyes stare at her with great anticipation while faking disinterest. All his arrogance and pride dissapear when said brunnette looks at him with disgust and mutters three little words.

"Tch, as if." She walks away. His world comes crashing down while his rather... unintelligent company stares in disbelief; did this girl just reject their leader? Who does she think she is?!

Later on, he finds out her name and where she works. The same ramen stand he first saw her.

They make a plan. If she rejects him again, they teach the bitch a lesson.

That was one day ago. Right now, he and his five goonies are standing in the ramen stand looking down at her along with the only guest in the stand at the moment.

"Remember me?!" He yelled while gritting his teeth. Ayame squinted her eyes to get a better view, and she tried to combine the face with a name, but she just couldn't.

"Not really, no, are you sure I should know you?" While all this was happening, the blonde was still munching down happily on his sacred food, oblivious to the events occuring around him.

Gritting his teeth, Saigo left his group and slowly started towards her.

"I'm the guy you rejected the other day, bitch! Misao Saigo!" He yelled, spit flying out of his mouth.

"Still... doesn't ring a bell—ahh! Now I remember!" His face softened a little. "You're that loser that asked me out a week ago, right?"

His eyes narrowed.

OooOooO

"Momochi Tayuya, my adoptive daughter. Fifteen years old, born in Kumogakure no Sato, but was orphaned early on and grew up in Otogakkure. Genjutsu specialist, a musical virtuoso and can do wonders with a kunai." He conveniently forgot to mention her rather... wide vocabulary.

And there was the final member of the team...

OooOooO

"Listen," The redhead started. "I'm going to give you one more chance, if you go out with me, nothing happens, but if you reject me again..." His tone was threatening, but Ayame didn't budge.

"Which is going to happen. Sorry, I don't date effeminate boys." She said in a sickly sweet tone. That did it. In pure rage, Saigo's hand flew across the counter and he felt somewhat of an impact.

A bowl. A ramen bowl. A bowl filled with ramen.

Huh?

It slid across the counter with ease, and then... it made a small 'clunk' as it landed on the ground, with the still-airborne ramen following suit.

For a few seconds, silence and tension were hanging in the air. And then... movement.

OooOooO

"The last member of the team, fourteen years old. Born in... heh," He snorted, much to the blonde man's discomfort. "Kirigakure no Sato."

OooOooO

Saigo didn't quite expect to have so much trouble once he entered the stand. Right now, he knew he should have stayed at home.

When the blonde's fist flew, he swiftly moved out of the way... only for a palm to crash into his solar plexus. He flew back, with all the air knocked out of his lungs, and decided to play it smart. Let his so called friends take care of his opponent, if they couldn't do it, then they would at least tire him out, and then he'd take him down!

First, he witnessed a fist being launched at the blonde, who simply ducked and launched himself up and knocked his opponent out with a headbutt to the chin. When the second and third men attacked together, the blonde ducked again, slammed his palms against the ground, and took a swipe at each of them with a kick. He missed the first one, but the second one hit the ground unconscious due to a foot that hit him in the ribs.

OooOooO

"Not really a specialist at anything, he's more of an overall fighter. Though... He does have fantastic control of his staff. " The blue-eyed Hokage nodded... and then stopped.

"Excuse me?"

"Huh? Oh... OOOOHH!! Hehehe, I meant the weapon." Zabuza said while snorting. Heh, the Hokage sure had a dirty mind.

OooOooO

The last unlucky assailant lunged at him more cautiously with a low kick aimed for his knees. What he didn't expect however was exactly what happened. The blonde jumped a foot above the ground, reached for something at his back... and slammed it towards his opponent's head. A staff! It connected with a loud cracking sound. The civilian hit the ground with a thud.

Unable to do anything but stare in amazement and shock, Ayame just continued gaping.

Unable to run, Chino's feet were starting to shake. A little miscalculation could cost him greatly, because no matter how strong, a civilian couldn't do anything in a fight against a ninja. Next time, he was going to let Saigo fight his own battles.

With slow steps, the blonde neared the one who somehow avoided his kick. In the end, he didn't need to do anything, since inbetween urinating his pants and starting to cry, he decided that running away was a good idea. He was right.

Saigo, after witnessing the defeat of all his 'friends', had two options. Either run away like Chino, or fight and hope that his death or defeat would be painless. But judging by the look in the blonde's blue eyes, running away wouldn't do him any good. His yellow eyes filled with determination; he incorrectly asumed that this was an act of bravery instead of foolishness. He stepped forward, and took up a stance he just made up, hoping that it would fool the ninja into believing that he actually had some knowledge in Taijutsu.

It didn't. The blonde's foot connected with his jaw, hard, but he still didn't fall over. Suddenly, the ninja was behind him, the staff the blonde was holding in his hand had enveloped his left arm in such a way that it almost felt like it had been cut off. The pain began to grow... and grow... and grow... he tried to scream but his throat didn't offer any sound.

Thankfully, he passed out.

After the commotion was over, the blonde let the unconscious body of Saigo drop to the ground. He re-attached the staff to his back and walked over to the now empty ramen bowl on the ground. He picked it up and placed it back on the counter. Turning around, the still gaping Ayame saw that he was fiddling around with something on his chest. A second later, he dropped a sheet of paper next to the unconscious body of one of Saigo's goonies.

"Next time, don't touch my ramen."

OooOooO

"And his name?" The Hokage asked impatiently, Zabuza still hadn't told him the name of the final member of Team 13.

"His name?" Zabuza started with a smirk behind his mask. "His name is..."

OooOooO

He took something out of his pouch and tossed it to the shaken Ayame. She brought her hand up to catch it, and once she did, she saw that it was.

"I still haven't told you my name, have I?" The blue-eyed shinobi asked rhetorically on his way out. Not waiting for her answer, he stopped and turned his head towards her.

"Naruto."

OooOooO

"Kirikaze Naruto."

OooOooO

**End Notes**

**It was a bit longer than expected, but oh well. So, what did you think? Was it good... was it bad... did ya want to gouge your eyes with a rusty spoon? Tell me! I gotta know! **

**Just to inform you, next chapter is a flashback of how Zabuza met Naruto. Oh and, I've been giving out clues throughout this chapter, if you figure out what I'm talking about, let me know, I'm pretty curious.**

**I'll also have to thank my new beta PhoenixClaw for dealing with my lazy ass for so long, sorry for the late update.**

**So, see ya next time!**


	3. Ch 2: The beginning of something Great

**Author's Notes**

**Hello, sup? I know, it's been more than a month, but I guess genious takes time, ne? Ehehehehehehe...he...he... Anyway, here's the chapter, hope ya like it.**

_--Hidden in the Mist--_

_--a Naruto story--_

_The KON_

Last time on Hidden in the Mist

_"Next time, don't touch my ramen."_

_OooOooO_

_"And his name?" The Hokage asked impatiently, zabuza still hadn't told him the name of the final member of Team 13._

_"His name?" Zabuza started with a smirk behind his mask. "His name is..."_

_OooOooO_

_He took something out of his pouch and tossed it to the quite shaken Ayame. She caught it and noticed that they were coins, he was paying her for the ramen!_

_"I still haven't told you my name, have I?" The blue-eyed shinobi asked rhetorically on his way out. Not waiting for her answer, he stopped and turned his head towards her._

_"Naruto."_

_OooOooO_

_"Kirikaze Naruto."_

OooOooO

_-Chapter 2-_

_**The beginning of something great**_

OooOooO

When the effeminate Genin from Kirigakure stepped onto the scene of the crime, or the ramen stand as it were, the first thing on his mind was a certain name.

You'll get a cookie if you guess which one it was.

Anyhow, the only thing he was able to do was shake his head and roll his eyes. "They must've touched his ramen. I guess his reputation doesn't quite reach all the way here, eh?" Haku whispered to noonein particular.

He had found a hotel, and it proved to be quite the task. The receptionist in the first hotel he visited kicked him out the second he walked in. He later found out that the woman behind the counter was the owner, and that her family was killed by a missing-nin that originated from the Mist.

He had no time for pity however, as he had to find a shelter within an hour and a half. He was not denied at his next address, but it turned out to be expensive as all hell.

After another hour of asking around, he came across 'Densetsu no Shinobi'. It was a rather rundown hotel, but it would do. The rooms were tidy enough, and they had bathrooms. The price wasn't fixed, as he had to negotiate it with the owner, much to his amusement.

And now, that left him with another thirty minutes to waste. He could go to their meeting place early and wait around, but didn't really fancy that. So he just settled on wandering around, seeing as this was his first time in Konoha.

After he went past the ramen stand, Haku came across what he thought was the centre of the city. The fountain in the middle of the square was packed with people. Mostly girls and children naturally.

Though when he payed a little bit more attention he saw a lot of shinobi there as well. Most of them were at home turf, though he saw a few Kusa and Ame-nins as well. But they wen't the ones that caught his eye.

A boy with short red hair and a gourd on his back was standing at the other end of the square. From what he could see, he had a tatoo on his forehead, but from that far, he couldn't make out what it was. But that wasn't what caught his eye either.

Those eyes... those green eyes, filled with so much emotion, most of which were negative.

Anger, hate, sorrow, all of it fused together into one mask of chaos.

It seemed so... familiar.

After pondering whether to stay here or go to their meeting place Haku made the wise decision, namely, the latter. He left the area with one last look at the boy with the tatoo on his forehead-

A while later, he entered the Merchant's quarter. After deciding that they'd need some food and drinks as well as weapons, he decided to go buy some.

Again, it proved a bit of a challenge, since the first store he visited had a policy of not taking the money of foreign customers. In other words 'Foreign shinobi, GTFO.' He bought twenty packs of instant ramen for Naruto, and ten each for him and Tayuya, he also bought about three and a half bags of apples, four pounds of oranges and three pounds of strawberries for the both of them. He just knew there were going to be gay jokes for that, but oh well, they'll be thankful. At least Naruto is. In the third store, he bought all kinds of tea and two bottles of sake for Tayuya. He was sure she'd complain about the fact that he only bought two bottles, but she'd have to deal with it.

With that done, he sealed all of them into a single scroll and put the scroll into his pouch.

Then he decided to wander around a bit, seeing that he still had some time left. So he visited the Royal district where most of the clans lived, made a wide arc around the unofficial Pleasure district, and went back to the West gate, where their meeting place was. It took him about five minutes to get there, and he was not surprised to find a certain blond already waiting around.

"Oi, Naruto!" He called, catching the attention of the waiting blonde, who merely nodded, acknowledging his presence.

"Hey, Haku."

"Oh, did you tear the seals off?" The long-haired boy asked, receiving a nod for an answer.

"Thought so, saw the mess you made at the ramen stand—"

"HE TOUCHED MY RAMEN!" The blonde shouted as he threw his hands in the air. "You should know best what happens to people who do that." And truth be told, he was right. Back when they first met, Haku had berated him on the fact that his only form of nourishment was ramen...

He was avoiding the short blonde for weeks after that incident.

"Yeah, yeah. How long have you been waiting anyway?" He inquired.

"Half an hour, after I took care of those guys at the ramen stand, I walked directly here. Anyway, so did you find a place where we could spend the night?" The blond asked, and Haku nodded.

"Yeah. It's a hotel called Densetsu no Shinobi. Decent, I guess." Naruto nodded and leaned against the wall.

"So what do you think about tommorow?" The long-haired shinobi asked. The gray-clad boy just shrugged and waved it off with his hand.

"Don't know, don't care. What'll happen will happen, why should I guess when I'll find out tommorow anyway? Oh, look, Tayuya's coming!" He noted pointing towards the redhead that was nearing them. When she got close enough, they both noticed that things didn't really seem right. She looked... angry, to say the least.

"What's wrong?" The effeminate boy asked empathically, but was quickly shut up by the sheer menace that radiated from her.

"Stuff it, dickless. I swear to the fucking Shinigami, I'll fucking kill that motherfucking bitch the next time we meet!!" She shouted, obviously frustrated. A blonde eyebrow went sky high. Sure, she always had a pretty wide vocabulary, and was never really afraid of showing it around, but she did tone it down a bit during the last few months. What happened must have really set off her fuse.

But then again, even the most minor things could do that, it was Tayuya after all.

"What happened?" He asked.

"I was restocking on weapons, when this brown-haired bitch walks up to me and tells me that the fucking kind of kunai I always buy, y'know, black iron ones, are pretty much dogshit and, " Somehow, they doubted that that was a direct quote. "That I should buy ones made of steel. So I told her to go fuck herself and mind her own damn business, and you know what she says to me? Do you?!"

"No, no I don't. What did she say?"

"She said that I should watch my fucking manners! Me, of all people!" Oh, how dare she?

"So I just slammed some cash on the desk and ran off... Damn bitch... I'll rope her to a training pole and trap her in a Genjutsu where it'll seem that roaches are eating her alive, while she is being stomped to death by a giant stinky wolf!" Well, that was one fantasy they'll try to forget as soon as possible.

"Well, I know what'll make you relax." Haku stated with a smile.

"Uh-huh, and what would that be?" She asked, not really believing him.

"Strawberries." He simply stated.

There was chaos.

OooOooO

A while later, they were walking towards the hotel, and Tayuya was downing one strawberry after another.

"So," Naruto started. "Tayuya, did you get the kunai?" He asked, attracting the attention of his red-haired teammate.

"Yeah, 'bout that. Here." She said as she pulled out three scrolls out of her pouch. She gave one to each of them. "Fifty kunai in your scroll, blondie, and thirty packs of senbon's in yours, Haku-chan." She noted, with a silly grin on her face in reply to Haku's frown.

"Thanks. Anyway, what did you find out about the Exam, Haku?" The short blonde asked after putting the scroll he just received away. The long-haired boy sighed.

"Not much, I found out that it's held at the Academy, though where it is, I don't know." He noted. Naruto and Tayuya just shrugged.

"Oh well, we'll find out I guess." Tayuya noted. A few minutes passed and they finally reached the hotel. They checked into each of their respective accomodations, with Naruto and Haku having to share a room.

OooOooO

_Haku's and Naruto's room_

OooOooO

The blonde was looking at the mountain of luggage in disbelief. Why in Amaterasu-Kami-sama's name did he pack so much? Let's see... three pairs of combat suits, TWENTY FIVE PAIRS OF SANDALS?! What the hell? Three spare kimono's, twenty scrolls, some empty, but most of them filled with reading material. Then, four pairs of boots, thirty two explosive tags, two tanto, one casual black t-shirt, a pair of loose cotton pants and a white shirt. All in all, pretty damn much, considering that he was probably going to be in the village for less than three weeks.

But still, he just knew that he packed less than Haku, who had like a thousand disguises and spare clothes in his scroll.

Pondering whether to change into his combat suit now, or just keep his current outfit on, he decided on the latter. Better reserve the suit for actual combat situations.

"So, up for some last minute training?" Haku asked, already wearing his own suit. Naruto shook his head and waved him off.

"Nah, not really up for it. Gotta try to make more of those seals anyway. By the way, did Zabuza-sensei say where he'd meet us?" He inquired as he sat himself infront of a desk. Pulling out numerous sheets of paper and a small bottle of ink, he stook up in search for his brush.

"He didn't." Haku sighed. "I guess he'll spend the night in the foreign quarters of the ANBU building, ne? Well, if Konoha has one, that is..." With that, he raised his hands up, and stretched with a silent groan. "Anyhow, I'll go pick up Tayuya and train with her. So see ya later, Naruto." Seeing the blonde nod, he walked over to the door.

"Oi, Haku." The staff wielder called out.

"Yeah?" He asked as he turned towards his teammate.

"If things get rough..." He closed his eyes and turned towards the long-haired boy. "Don't forget to use condoms." He finished sagely while opening his eyes.

Twitch. Twitch. Twitchtwichtwich—_throw_.

Naruto had to lean his head to the right to evade a kunai, which flew through the window.

OooOooO

With a grin on his young face, Yakushi Kabuto was reading through the little notebook with immense pride. It held the names, identities and every ability he had seen of the ones who were going to enter the Chuunin Exams.

_'Orochimaru-sama will be very pleased!'_ That thought only caused his grin to widen.

After Orochimaru-sama saved him from Sasori-san's clutches, he was more than an able servant, absorbing technique after technique, and his bloodline made it practically impossible for anyone to kill him unless it was in one blow.

But still, he was a fairly normal human being, and he felt pain. And pain was something that you get plenty of when in Orochimaru's company, which was the reason he was a tad... rebellious lately. However, he was still loyal to his master, and would be until his own goals were furfilled, and that meant that he had to carry out the orders he received.

Which was why he was now looking at the fruit of his labour, namely, the notebook he now held in his hands. After deciding to check it one last time, he started from the beginning.

The first pages mostly held the names of his 'comrades', Konoha-nin, starting with Team 3.

--Team Gai—

Name - Higurashi Tenten

Rank - Genin

Specialization – Kenjutsu

Worst skill – Ninjutsu

Description –

Father is a blacksmith, mother is long dead, she is the first shinobi in the history of her family. Has great control in all weapons, but mostly utilizes throwing weapons and swords.

--

Name – Hyuuga Neji

Rank – Genin

Specialization – Jyuuken style of Taijutsu, rarely uses anything else

Worst skill – Kenjutsu

Description –

Son of the murdered Hyuuga Hizashi, brother of Hiashi, the current Hyuuga clan leader. Deemed as a prodigy; was the Rookie of the year last year, but did not participate in the Chuunin exam. Reasons – unknown. The best Jyuuken user to come out of the Branch family in years.

--

Name – Rock Lee

Rank – Genin

Specialization – Taijutsu

Worst skill – Ninjutsu

Description –

Too much for words.

--

He skipped all the other teams, as he knew they weren't worth much attention, and came across this years teams.

--Team 7—

Name – Haruno Sakura

Rank - Genin

Specialization – Seems to be Genjutsu, not really certain about this

Worst skill – Ninjutsu

Description –

Daughter of Haruno Raito, the mass murderer that fled to Iwagakure, lives with a surrogate family. Has a quite a small chakra supply, but makes up for that with her great control. Seems to be obsessed with Uchiha-san (perhaps this could be taken advantage of?)

--

Name – Inuzuka Kiba

Rank – Genin

Specialization – Tracking and Ninjutsu

Worst skill – Kenjutsu

Description –

Son of Inuzuka Tsume and heir to the Inuzuka clan. Is the best tracker to come out of the clan in a decade, able to smell the faintest trace of a scent from over two kilometres. Is decent at Taijutsu.

--

Name – Uchiha Sasuke

Rank – Genin

Specialization – Ninjutsu

Worst skill – Genjutsu

Description –

Last of the Uchiha, unlocked the Sharingan at age eleven, prodigy with no equal this year. Has a great chakra capacity, slightly bigger than my own. Doesn't seem too fond of the female sex, seems to have taken on the path of an avenger. Is rivals with Hyuuga Neji.

--

--Team 8--

Name – Aburame Shino

Rank – Genin

Specialization – Ninjutsu

Worst skill – Taijutsu

Description –

Heir of the Kikaichu wielding Aburame clan, declared as one of the top five talents in recent Aburame history, better control of his insects than even his father. Shows no emotions in even the most dire situations. Typical Aburame.

--

Name – Hyuuga Hinata

Rank – Genin

Specialization – Jyuuken

Worst skill – Ninjutsu

Description –

Heiress to the Hyuuga clan, doesn't really seem to have the talent for it though. Always seems to hold back, quite timid, possibly traumatized by the attempted Kumo kidnapping eleven years earlier. Has shown to have decent chakra control, most likely due to her small reserves. (extra note – It's posssible that she has a split personality, not quite sure, but has shown to act quite differently on occasions.)

--

Name – Hyuuga Hanabi

Rank – Genin

Specialization – Jyuuken

Worst skill – Genjutsu

Description –

Younger sister of Hyuuga Hinata, ten years old. Gratuated early, despite the numerous protests of her Academy teachers. Seems to be a prodigy in Jyuuken, perhaps even close to surpassing her cousin – Hyuuga Neji. Has quite a decent chakra capacity, and even better control. Is rumoured to be the surprise of this graduating class. (additional note – Seems to have grown quite distant from her sister in the past year or so.)

--

That was all where Konoha-nin were considered. He moved on to the more... exotic ninja. He skipped the ninja from Kusa, since he knew that that was going to be the disguise of his master.

He then came across their allies from Suna, but skipped them as well, since Orochimaru-sama knew all about them.

He then frowned when his eyes wandered over the team from Kirigakure. He was confident that he got as much information as he possibly could from them, but still... this wasn't enough...

Team 13

--

Name – Momochi Tayuya

Rank – Genin

Country of origin – Unknown

Specialization – Genjutsu

Worst skill – Unknown

Description –

Has red hair, a pretty wide vocabulary, and amazing talent when it comes to Genjutsu. She is very adept at playing her flute. Was adopted by Momochi Zabuza after he rejoined Kirigakure.

--

Name – Momochi Haku

Rank – Genin

Country of origin – Mizu no Kuni

Specialization – Unknown

Worst skill – Unknown

Description –

Was adopted by Momochi Zabuza at a very young age, after being driven out of his home village due to his bloodline. (Additional note – His bloodline remains a mystery to me)

--

His eyes narrowed when he saw the last name on the list...

--

Name – Kirikaze Naruto

Rank – Genin

Country of origin – Unknown

Specialization – Unknown

Worst skill – Unknown

Description –

Has blonde hair. (Additional note – That's it.)

Team 13 remained a mystery to him, and probably everyone else as well. All that was known about them was that they were three years old, and that they didn't join the last few Chuunin exams because their sensei, Momochi Zabuza forbade them. Also, his informant had told him that they had a hand in that 'incident' in Kumo last year.

He hoped that he'd find out a bit nore about them during the exam, but they didn't really seem that important...

OooOooO

_Four AM – The next day_

OooOooO

With a silent gasp, he stood up, drops of hot water dripping down his pale body. Every muscle in his defined form flexed as he stretched himself. He didn't have any big muscles or anything like that, but what he had was definition.

His body was the living proof of the training regime he had been on since he was seven years old. His legs were slightly bent, and his posture just _screamed_ 'professional'. After the steam cleared a bit, the upper part of his body became visible. Instead of pale skin just like the rest, it was riddled with tatooes that practically covered his entire upper torso in black. An orange spiral on his stomache was the only thing that wasn't black. Anyhow, the upper part of his body wasn't any less trained either. His defined abs definitely went with his strong legs, but so did his lean shoulders and his decently-sized arms. A few scars here and there were visible as well, though they seemed to be more of an intimidation factor rather than the visible form of his brutal training, which they essentially were.

As he stepped out of the bathtub, he scratched his whiskered cheeks and his seemingly dead cerulean blue eyes took a good look of him in the mirror. He ran a hand through his short wet blond hair, which seemed to be bound by some spiritual force towards the back of his head. He grunted and scratched his left leg.

He opened the door and stepped into the bedroom, drops of watter dripping down to the wooden floor, but he didn't seem to care. His half-closed, tired eyes were focused on the bed next to Haku's, which was occupied by the long-haired boy.

Suddenly, before he had a chance to put anything on to cover his nude body, the door burst open, revealing a suspiciously cheerful redhead.

"Hey Haku, you seen my..." She shouted but then stopped when she took notice of her other teammates nudeness. "...flute..." They stood like that for about a minute.

A shocked look in Naruto's blue eyes, an amused one in Tayuya's red ones. The blonde didn't do anything to cover up his naked form... while the redhead simply kept her mouth shut. Her gaze was fixated on the... well... lower part of his body.

Then... she tilted her head, her mouth forming an 'oh'.

"Wow... that a Genjutsu, or you just happy to see me?" The blonde blinked, and then looked down. He quickly used his hands to cover himself up, and then proceeded to glare at the intruder.

"Tayuya..." He hissed. "OUT!" She responded with a pout.

"Bah, and here I was hoping to get some fun outta you... partypooper." With that, she left the blushing Naruto in the room and walked out, closing the door behind her. Naruto, unfortunately aware of the innuendo in that sentence, looked down towards...Little Naruto.

"Traitor." He hissed. Finally, a few seconds later, he was able to relax. So he once again started towards his bed.

"Oh, wait, you didn't answer my que..." She once again blasted through the door. "...stion... Man! You really ARE happy to see me!"

A frustrated scream echoed throughout the building, waking up all but one of it's inhabitants

During all of this, a certain effeminate boy was snoring away his troubles.

OooOooO

A few hours later, a readied Haku emerged from the bathroom. Instead of his usual kimono, he was wearing a dark-blue yukata. His black hair was tied into a ponytail, and his hitai-ate was wrapped around his left arm. Though it remained invisible, he had a weapons pouch strapped behind his back.

His eyes focused on the blonde who's upper body was still uncovered. Haku got an eye full of his black tatooes, which covered up almost every spot on his body up to his elbows.

Naruto was in a full lotus position, his hands twisted into the handsign for 'abyss' and his eyes closed. A skilled individual could see a weak path of chakra circling around him. A few seconds later, his eyelids parted, revealing his emotionless blue eyes. Then, his entire demeanor changed when he saw Haku.

"Well, look who dressed up." He said with a slight grin. Haku responded in kind.

The blonde stood up and grabbed the clothes from his bed and dressed himself. He then took the pouch and attached it to his belt. Then he took the staff from the desk and tied it in some bandages. He strapped it on his back.

"I'm done, let's go." He stated and off they went. Instead of his usual gray attire, Naruto was now wearing a pair of leather boots and cotton pants. The belt to which the pouch was attached was what seperated his torso from his legs. He wore a dark-grey shirt beneath a red vest, which had the kanji for 'wind' written on the back, but due to the staff, it wasn't very visible.

As they exited the room, Haku locked the door. When they turned the corner of the hallway, they came face to face with their red-headed teammate, much to Naruto's discomfort. After a quick good morning from Haku, Tayuya turned to him.

"Good mornin', no-pants." She shouted with a silly grin on her face. She didn't miss the scarlet color that appeared on the blonde's cheeks. Soon afterwards, her gaze wandered downwards. "What's wrong, not as happy to see me as you were yesterday?" She teased.

"Sh-shut up!!" He stuttered. "What were you doing bursting into our room early in the morning, anyway?!" He demanded, the red-head just shrugged in reply.

"Couldn't sleep, and I couldn't find the flute I bought yesterday, so I thought Haku might have it." She broke it off with a grin, and Naruto suddenly had a terrible feeling stirring inside his stomache. "While I didn't find the flute in your room, I did find something... bigger." She finished, her sentence laced with innuendo. The blond just looked away, hoping that she wouldn't notice that the color of her hair had appeared on his face. It took him a few seconds to regain his composure, but when he did, he made an interesting discovery.

"What's with the outfit? We're going to the Chuunin exam, not to a striptease competition." He said when he noticed thr clothes she was wearing, or, to be more precise, those she wasn't wearing.

She wore a _short_ red leather skirt, which only hid her legs up to her knees, and a pair of sandals. The upper part of her body was pretty much naked, the only exception being her hands, due to her wearing a pair of gloves.Her stomache was bare as she used a piece of cotton to tie up her perfectly shaped breasts, and she ended up making an improvised bra that was tied up in an X-shape, leaving the lower end of her left breast visible, while only hiding the nipple of her right breast. All in all, she left absolutely _nothing_ to imagination. Her red hair was tied up in two buns, and a short ponytail, which really made a slightly strange sight (somewhat strange sight).

"So? A kunoichi's greatest asset is her body afterall." To prove her point, she made a provocative pose which only drew another blush from Naruto. "And besides, I can get them to underestimate me this way, since they don't know where I hid my weapons, and the only place they'll be able to guess is...well...y'know." She finished while pretending to be embarassed. "Anyways, let's go already!" She yelled and grabbed the blonde's hand and ran towards the stairs. And so started the Chuunin exams...

A few minutes passed before a certain blonde came back and dragged the still gaping stiff body of Momochi Haku, while muttering something about closet perverts.

OooOooO

_Nine AM – Konohagakure Shinobi Academy_

OooOooO

Despite the popular opinion, Uchiha Sasuke was NOT an emotionless drone that only had angsty thoughts in his mind. Every once in a while, he'd feel sorrow, happiness, jealousy, but the most common was SEETHING RAGE!!

The most common cause's of that emotion were his idiotic teammate, Kiba, or his retarde—um, tardy sensei Kakashi. This time, it was both of them.

Both were late for the Chuunin Exam, and if they didn't show up, they would miss the first test. He could handle Kakashi not showing up, as his presence wasn't required... But if Kiba didn't show up, they would be disqualified and a corpse would become a part of the decor at the Inuzuka compound.

So, here he was, walking in circles as his (fortunately) only female teammate was sitting on a bench infront of the academy. His breath unruly, his eyes focused on the entrance, his mind racing. At the moment, Uchiha Sasuke was nothing short of an ordinary man. An ordinary man with an extremely short fuse.

An ordinary man with an extremely short fuse, that was lit.

And while he was pacing around, Sakura was just sitting there, a smile on her face, not a care in the world. Everything was alright, as long as she was by her Sasuke-kun's side.

As long as her Sasuke-kun was happy, she was happy as well.

Boy, can you say 'Best emotion reader in the world'?

Anyhow, while the last Uchiha was busy making the ground turn to dust, the door burst open, attracting the attention of the both of them.

Well, at least _something_ got Sasuke's attention.

Three people walked in, two guys and one girl. The pinkette recognized one of them as her saviour from yesterday, while Sasuke could only _stare_ at the red-head. Well, not really at her head, more like her, y'know.

The three of them walked by Sasuke and Sakura, and the way the red-head winked at the raven haired avenger caused his jaw to drop. Soon, they were in the other room.

Sakura didn't like the way her Sasuke-kun's jaw was still getting used to the fly-catcher business.

Then, a familiar voice snapped them both out of their thoughts.

OooOooO

As soon as they walked into the room they saw the arguement that was taking place.

A bunch of Genin were arguing against two men that seemed to be Chuunin.

"C'mon, let us in! We're supposed to start our exam now!!" A Kusa-nin shouted while throwing his fist's into the air. One of the Chuunin simply grinned, and proceeded to kick him in the groin.

"All right listen up. Me and Kotetsu here" He said while pointing to his partner. "...have agreed to let you pass." This caused a bit of the faces in the room to lighten up. Kotetsu grinned and decided to finish the sentence of his partner.

"If you can beat the both of us." As soon as the happy thoughts came, they left, causing quite a bit of them to shout out in protest.

"COME ON!!" A Kumo-nin yelled out.

"That's not fair!!" Shouted a Konoha-nin.

"Damnit, you're Chuunin and we're Genin! There's no way we can beat you!!" Ame.

"I'll crush your skull." A red-head from Suna said casually.

Tayuya rolled her eyes. "Morons." She whispered.

"Genjutsu, is it?" Haku replied and she simply nodded. "So where is it, the entrance, or are those guys a Genjutsu as well?" He asked.

"The entrance. Want me to cancel it?" She inquired with an almost derisive glint in her eyes. A few seconds passed and it seemed Haku was really pondering on the decision.

"No." But in the end, it was the their blonde teammate that actually voiced it. "They're shinobi, aren't they? Let them figure it out on their own." He said with a cocky grin. Haku nodded, seemingly sharing his opinion. Tayuya nodded as well, but obviously less enthusiastic.

"Fucking bastard, destroying my share in the fun." Well, guess who.

And so they started performing handseals as secretive as possible, afterall, if someone noticed them, they would probably connect the dots.

Haku dissolved into water and dissapeared.

Tayuya just faded away.

And Naruto dri—

"HEY, YOU!!" Drat. Someone noticed. He turned towards the source of the voice, which was a large man with an Ame hitai-ate on his forehead. He was wearing a grey jumpsuit, and had a staff on his back, just like him. "What are you doing walking around with that staff?! I'm the only staff user here, you copyin' me, you little punk?!"

A blonde eyebrow went up an inch, and with a cold look in his blue eyes, Naruto answered with a question of his own. "I beg your pardon?" This only seemed to infuriate the other staff user even more, so he drew his staff.

"You heard me, you little shit! You copyin' me, aren't you?! Well then... let's see who's better!!" He said as his staff crashed towards the blonde.

Who rolled his eyes in reply as he swiftly jumped up to avoid it. _'Is it just me, or have I been getting into fights for the most idiotic reasons lately?'_

After dodging another attack from the Ame-nin, the battle seemed to attract the attention of the crowd. With a backflip, Naruto avoided a swipe at his stomache , and after that he leapt to the left to avoid an overhead strike.

"Tch." He snorted. "Pathetic."

"Gryaaaarrrr!!" The large Ame-nin roared in rage as he sent another flurry of blows towards the Kiri Genin.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Funtime's over, you're not worthy of even being _touched _by my staff." He said as he stopped an overhead strike with one hand. The large man tried to pull away, but it just didn't budge! "Good night." The blonde stated and pulled the staff towards him, taking the Ame-nin with it. With a knee kick to his stomache, the man was sent flying three meters into the air. But it didn't stop there, as the blonde was suddenly behind him, and with another kick, sent the Genin towards the sky.

And no less than a second later, the blonde was on his feet, as if nothing had happened.

And then...

Blue eyes met black ones. Their clothes creating a contrast, one red, the other blue.

Their hair, golden and black respectively.

A spark ignited.

And so, a rivalry starts.

OooOooO

**Author's Notes**

**Ok, so... Twelve pages, eh? I know the last scene felt rushed... well, because it was rushed, I wrote it in like... five minutes, and then rushed to the internet cafe to send it to my beta, PhoenixClaw. Did a good job, mate. **

**This chapter is my first try to infuse humor into my stories... humor that's actually funny. I realize that the fight scene was lame...again, but, again, I wrote it in two minutes.**

**And yes, I know, the whole blue met black thing is lame, but deal with it.**


	4. Ch 3: With the drop of a Feather

**Err, yeah, Kirikaze Naruto here. I don't know why, but this prick of an author is in a bit of a crisis so he forced me to comment on my diary. Yeah. Anyhow, he's sorry for the delay, but he was particularly busy this past two months. First of all, end of the school year so... meh. Second... Uhh... how do you pronounce this? ...Oh! Right.**

**The Eu-ro-peeeeeaan? That right? The European Championship in Soccer was going on, and Crow-atia? What the? Are you sure this is written right? Really? Ok then, don't blame me if the readers point out differently. Anyhow, Croatia was a participant and won all the matches in the group stage... only to lose against **_**Turkey**_** in the quarter finals on frickin penalties...**

**Then, he participated in the Cambridge University Press Creative Writing contest... and he... won? Really? Liar...Huh? Wow... you really did win... I guess I was right when I chose you to write my biography...**

**Yeah, and guess what? The chapter was finished two weeks ago! Marko sent it to his beta... and received it today... ARGH!! Stop being an asshole and start the damn chapter already!**

_--Hidden in the Mist--_

_--a Naruto story--_

_The KON  
_

OooOooO

Last time on Hidden in the Mist

OooOooO

_"Tch." He snorted. "Pathetic."_

__

"Gryaaaarrrr!!" The large Ame-nin roared in rage as he sent another flurry of blows towards the Kiri Genin.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Funtime's over, you're not worthy of even being touched by my staff." He said as he stopped an overhead strike with one hand. The large man tried to pull away, but it just didn't budge! "Good night." The blonde stated and pulled the staff towards him, taking the Ame-nin with it. With a knee kick to his stomache, the man was sent flying three meters into the air. But it didn't stop there, as the blonde was suddenly behind him, and with another kick, sent the Genin towards the sky.

And no less than a second later, the blonde was on his feet, as if nothing had happened.

And then...

Blue eyes met black ones. Their clothes creating a contrast, one red, the other blue.

Their hair, golden and black respectively.

A spark ignited.

And so, a rivalry starts.

OooOooO

_-Chapter 3-_

_**With the drop of a Feather**_

OooOooO

In that room, at that moment, there were a total of ninety-three pairs of eyes concentrated on the short blonde, but he only paid heed to the black eyes that were merely three to five meters away from him. They seemed as if they were the very centre of his universe. Oh, he was sure... the owner of those eyes would be a very worthy opponent...

But not today.

He grinned, not having felt that kind of thrill for quite some time. His posture relaxed slightly, his blue eyes closed...

And suddenly, he dissapeared, leaving nothing but a gust of wind in his wake.

And from a look of jealousy, one Uchiha Sasuke's eyes shifted into surprise. Where did he go?! Who was he?! How was he so powerfull?! Why was he so powerfull?!

And why... why did he feel so... weak infront of his gaze?

OooOooO

As soon as he appeared in the room, he took notice of his two teammates.

"Oi, no-pants, where've you been?" Tayuya asked as he approached them. Naruto just slumped his shoulders and offered them a sly smile.

"Well, you know me, always try to find some arrogant bastard I can beat to death." He stated. Haku grinned and Tayuya pouted.

"Why is it that every time you beat someone up, I get left out? I mean seriously, I'm supposed to be the sexy but dangerous kunoichi of the team, but I never get my chance to fight! It ain't fair, I tell ya!" She shouted, while both her teammates sweat-dropped.

"I think your outfit is to be blamed for that." Haku noted, and got a nasty look in reply.

"What do you mean by that, dickless?!"

"I think what he means is, that guys are to busy staring at your ass...ets to actually attack you." He noted and received a thankful nod from the long-haired teen.

"Oh... Well that's probably the only good thing about that." She said, while sticking her tongue out to the both of them, to which they sweat dropped once more-

A while later, the first couple of Genin walked in.

"Oh? So they figured out it was a Genjutsu?" Tayuya asked while tiliting her head. Naruto shook his head and leaned against the wall.

"Not likely. I didn't give out any clues, and I doubt they suddenly got a burst of logic and figured it out themselves." He noted and took out a kunai from his pouch. With a blank look on his face, he started to balance it on his index finger. "Most likely... some moron with a bloodline figured it out and decided to shout it out to the world, instead of being smart and keeping his mouth shut."

"Ah well..." He sighed. "Idiots exist for a reason I guess..." He stopped playing with his kunai and put it back in his pouch. He ran his hand through his hair and took a good look at the ninja that were gathering in the room.

"Hmm... Haku, can you do me a favour?" He asked and Haku nodded.

"Depends on what it is."

"Use your mirror technique and analyze the... Suna, Kusa and Ame nins. There, there and there." He said while pointing in different directions. "I get the feeling that one of them is hiding something that could prove to be useful to us. Or harming, either way, do what I told you."

"Sure. Be back in a minute." After flashing through several handsigns, a mirror appeared behind him and he stepped into it, then the mirror completely dissapeared.

"Tayuya, you go flirt with that Konoha team there, the one with that Bishie wannabie and that Eyebrow monster." A second later, the scantly dressed red-head almost fell flat on her ass.

"A-Are those real?! NO WAY! I'm not gonna talk to him, those things'll eat me!!" She hissed, quiet enough so that only the blonde would hear.

"Hmm... If you go talk to him, I promise I'll do that thing with the whipped cream and strawberries you like." He didn't even blink, and she had already cupped his hands.

"Really?!" She asked with a sparkle in her eyes. He nodded. "You're not just fucking with me?!" He shook his head, a little blush spread across his face. "YAY!" She shouted in joy and gave him a hug. Then she proceeded to do as told.

The blonde closed his eyes, sighed, and walked up to the group that had formed by the entrance, all of them being Konoha teams.

"So how old are you, Kabuto-san?" The pink-haired girl he recognized as the girl from yesterday asked. Without being noticed, he snuck into their group.

"Sixteen, actually. This is my seventh time taking this exam." The purple-haired teen with glasses responded, rubbing his neck shamefully. Deciding that this was the best time to join in on the conversation, Naruto replied with a question of his own.

"Strange... the last exam was in my home village yet I don't remember seeing you there." He asked, soon receiving the surprised looks of ten Konoha-nin's.

While narrowing his eyes, Kabuto responded. "My team failed the written exam." The blonde threw him a nasty smirk that had 'thought so' written all over it.

"Kirigakure no Sato doesn't practice written exam's. We have a more 'hands on' approach." He started. After seeing the way Kabuto's eyes widened, his attitude did a turnaround and he suddenly had a more apologetic look on his face. "Of course, I only watched the finals. I didn't participate in the exam myself." Before the purple-haired Konoha teen could reply, a question was raised by a certain raven-haired genin.

"Who are you, anyway?" He inquired in an arrogant way, as if he didn't really care. Without even turning to look at him, the blonde replied.

"I'm Kirikaze Naruto. Nice to meet you." He said blandly, his eyes still on the older boy. Then finally, he broke eye contact and looked towards the raven-haired boy. "And you are?"

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"Ah... Uchiha-san..." The blonde offered a smile, and Sasuke simply grinned. Everyone knew who the Uchiha were! "Never heard of you." He simply stated, the smile never leaving his face.

And as quickly as it appeared, the grin vanished, leaving a face contorted into what seemed to be anger. How...How dare he?!

"Anyhow," Kabuto interrupted. "We were talking about my Nin-cards, weren't we?" He said as he took something out of his pocket; a deck of cards. "Well, here they are." He said, offering a smile.

"Oi! Oi! Oi! Whaddaya have on me?!" The Inuzuka demanded excitedly. The nin with the glasses closed his eyes for a few seconds, while his hand seemed to shine a blue light. And finally, he started to look through the deck.

"To keep the information I've gathered to myself, I've used a special jutsu to make these cards look completely blank unless some chakra was gathered into it." He noted, and then finally pulled a card out, offering it to the Inuzuka.

"Inuzuka Kiba –

Taijutsu – six out of ten

Ninjutsu – seven out of ten

Fuuinjutsu – zero out of ten

Genjutsu – two out of ten

Special skills – tracking

Village of origin – Konohagkure no Sato." Kiba finished.

The blonde smirked. Seems that the dog-boy wasn't gonna be a threat afterall. _'Let's see how much they know about me.'_

"And what do you have about me?" He asked, cocking his head slightly. Out of the eleven people conversing, only two of them noticed the barely descernable shift in Kabuto's expression. From indifferent to... hateful?

"Kirikaze Naruto, right?" It was a statement rather than a question. After shuffling through the deck, he pulled out a card and offered it to the blonde, who accepted it.

"Oh." He said after taking a short look at it. "That's all? Feh." He snorted, tossing it to the purple-haired teen. Again, Kabuto narrowed his eyes—And then jumped to the side to dodge a punch.

"He's fast!" The pink-haired girl remarked. This time, it was Naruto's eyes that narrowed.

_'No... He couldn't have seen it coming, his back was facing the guy, and the moves the attacker made were soundless. The only way he could've known was if he already knew it was gonna come...'_

A small grin appeared on the teen's face.

Not even a second later, it cracked, almost as fast as his glasses.

"Wh-what?! But I saw it, he completely dodged the attack!!" The Uchiha noted. He shifted his attention to the attacker, a guy who's face was completely wrapped in bandages, except for his left eye. He was wearing a light blue and black outfit, and seemed to have pretty long hair... was that even hair?

"It probably got closer then it looked... But look at him, acting so nonchalantly, as if nothing happened. Tch, so troublesome..." The pine-apple haired Konoha-nin noted, rubbing his left shoulder.

Suddenly, Kabuto dropped to his knees, holding his stomache in pain. His eyes bloodshot, he emptied the contents of his stomache right there on the floor of the class room.

"So, Otogakure is the weakest village, eh?" A black-haired girl appeared.

_'Hm, must be something they were talking about before I got here...' _Naruto noted, observing the evolution of the situation.

"The next time you insult our village, make sure we, the Shinobi of Otogakure aren't around... or you'll pay dearly, tough guy." The spiky haired Oto shinobi next to her said with a menacing grin on his face.

The older teenager couldn't say anything, as he was still recovering from the attack. All he did was glare at the trio from the Sound.

"Hn..." Naruto muttered while biting his thumb. _'I wonder what that was all about... he dodged the punch, I'm sure of it.'_ He thought while recollecting the attack. _'Not even a second after that, his glasses cracked. It wasn't because of the punch... Vibrations! So he used a sound attack.'_ A grin spread across his face. _'I couldn't pick it up because the frequency was too high. Heh, those shinobi from Oto are sure to be a threat.' _He noted.

Then, he walked away. Why should he care? Let the leaf take care of it's own business. He got the information he wanted.

One Uchiha Sasuke watched the blonde's retreating back with narrowed eyes. Who was he? He didn't even know him half an hour ago, and he already proved to be one of the mysteries of the Exam. Then, his black eyes noticed something on the floor.

He walked up to it and picked it up. It was one of Kabuto's nin-cards. Could it be about Kirikaze? After channeling a bit of chakra into it, he indeed saw the blonde's picture inside.

His eyes narrowed considerably, and he threw the card away angrily... Damn it!!

The card slowly dropped to the floor, it's contents still visible.

Name – Kirikaze Naruto

Taijutsu - ??

Ninjutsu - ??

Fuuinjutsu - ??

Genjutsu - ??

Special skills - ??

Village of origin – Kirigakure no Sato

OooOooO

Suddenly, a small explosion of smoke errupted infront of the chalkboard, attracting the attention of everyone in the room.

"Alright you little sons and daughters of bastards and bitches, enough chit-chat. Time for business!" A deep, rough voice from the smoke cried out. Finally, the haze cleared enough to reveal a man.

Or men, really. The first was a tall man, wearing a long black leather jacket and a black bandana, covering his bald head. He had two scars on his face, one long scar running from his left ear down to just above his chin, and the other one was considerably shorter, only his right cheek. Behind him were ten men wearing Chuunin vests, and two familiar faces among them, Izumo and Kotetsu.

"It's time to start! I'm Morino Ibiki, and you little brats... SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!" He shouted, startling every Genin in the room. A few seconds later, his orders were furfilled.

He offered them a grin. "Good, that's the spirit." He then snapped his fingers, making a sheet of paper appear in a puff of smoke infront of every seat.

"A written exam?" One Genin cried out, obviously surprised. Immedeatilly Immediately after his shout, every eye in the room focused on him. The boy pouted.

"No. It's not a written exam." Ibiki said stiffly, sending a menacing glare to the whole classroom. "Read what's on the paper before you yell." And all of the Genin looked towards the paper.

"These numbers are all already copied, and they are being mixed up right now. We are going to put each of you together with two foreign ninja on a team, so that you are put on unfamiliar ground. This is to simulate some of your later missions, if you pass this exam, that is. Later on, there are no set teams. Each shinobi is an individual soldier, and can be paired up with a complete stranger, so you need to be prepared for it." The black-clad Jounin noted.

"Before the results arrive, let me give you one piece of last minute advice..." Ibiki said, with a smirk on his scarred face. "Don't let the smokescreen of defeat cloud your judgement and make you give up. When there's a will, there is a way." He said.

Naruto nodded, his face serious. For a while, the classroom was completely silent, the tension being felt by everyone with every fiber of their bodies. No one moved, and even the most silent breaths could be picked up if someone wanted to.

"Huh?" Naruto let out as he saw something drop on his desk. He took it and brought it up for closer inspection. "A... feather?"

Then suddenly, the Genin next to him dropped to the desk, unconscious. His eyes widened, and he tried to call out something, but it came out as barely a whisper as blackness claimed him.

"Gen...ju...tsu..."

OooOooO

When his eyes opened, Naruto found himself in a moonlit clearing near a lake. His head swirled around, already calculating his whereabouts.

_'I can't see the village from here, so I'm probably pretty far away... Normally, I'd say that I was in Konoha's so called Forest of Death, but as far as I remember, Zabuza-sensei said that it has an exam of it's own...'_ He shifted his attention to the lake.

_'Konoha only has three lakes surrounding it... Tamago lake, Akuda lake and Sutora lake...'_ He crawled towards it, and dipped a finger in before licking it. _'But none of them are sweet-water lakes... Just where am I?!'_ He got into a full lotus position and closed his eyes, his mind trying to come up with any possibilities.

"Ughhh..." Naruto's eyes snapped open and he turned his head towards the source of the groan. He jumped up and reached for his staff, only to notice that it wasn't there. He cursed his luck and got into his Taijutsu stance.

They were two Konoha-nin, older than him judging by the scars on their faces, most likely not their first try. Then he remembered Ibiki's words... so he was put on a team with them? Feh, he snorted, he'd just have to see how good they were.

"Ah... Ahhh!!" One of them screamed when he noticed him. "DWARF!!" He yelled, pointing at the short blonde. A vein popped up on Naruto's forehead.

_'Wow... Kudos for the great reaction time. I couldn't even defend myself!'_ He thought sarcastically.

"Oi, calm down, alright? I'm from Kirigakure, Kirikaze Naruto, and you?" The Kiri-nin asked.

"Wow... I didn't know dwarves lived in Kirigakure..." The teen whispered in astonishment. The vein only got larger.

"With every word that leaves your lips, you're getting closer to your doom, you know..." Naruto remarked and the Konoha-nin rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Ah, sumimasen... I'm Kurogaki Roshi, Konoha. That guy lying over there is my brother, Toshi." He noted, pointing towards his still unconscious brother. He stood up and went to wake him.

_'Kudos to their parents for the names. Quite original.' _

"Oi, Toshi, wake up!" He said, shaking his younger brother, who's red eyes opened, and he let out a stiff yawn.

Then, he noticed Naruto.

"AAAAAHHH!! DWARF!!"

Another vein popped up on the blonde's forehead.

OooOooO

Ten minutes later, the blonde, the brunnette and the silver-head were sitting on the floor, all in thinking poses.

"Maybe we're in Suna!" Toshi suggested.

"No, there are no lakes in Suna."

"Ame?"

"No rain."

"Kusa?"

"The grass is too dark."

"Kiri?"

"...You think I wouldn't have noticed if we were in Kiri?"

"Kumo?"

"The air is too clear."

"Iwa?"

"Temperature too low." Naruto countered each of their suggestion's with accurate information.

"THEN WHERE THE HELL ARE WE?!" Both brother's screamed out in frustration. The blonde from Kirigakure sighed at their antics and stood up.

"That's what I've been trying to figure out. It's early morning, so they probably carried us for a while. Or... we're in an enclosed area in Konoha. If that's the case, we'll probably meet some of the other examinees." He then shot a quick glance toward where his staff was. "They took my staff... Damn it..." He cursed under his breath.

"Hm...? Where's my tanto?" That got the blonde's attention. Toshi stood up and started frantically searching for his weapon of choice.

Roshi then made a remark of his own. "Now that you mention it, my kusari-gama is missing as well...!!" A grin appeared on Naruto's face... so that's what happened.

"Heh..." The red-clad nin snorted. "They also took my staff. They probably took all of our weapons, as our most prized possesions, so that we have to go and find them." He noted, and the younger of the two brother's, Toshi, looked at him with widened eyes.

"So... the only things we can rely on is our chakra?!"

"And Taijutsu. Probably. Why, is that a problem for you?" _'It certainly is for me...'_

Toshi and Roshi shared a concerned look. "Well..."

"You see..."

"Our chakra pathways are blocked." Roshi exclaimed. Naruto just blinked—so they couldn't use chakra either? Well, this could prove a problem.

"It happened after the Kyuubi attack, fourteen years ago. I sent a fireball filled with tainted chakra towards the hideout we were staying in, and killed almost everyone in there." Roshi started, with the intention of continuing, but his brother beat him to it.

"Everyone... except for us. We were very deep in the mountain, so the fire didn't reach us. The radiation, however...did." The serious tones of their voices seemed to contrast their earlier behaviour.

"You see, tainted chakra has a terrible effect on an already developed chakra circulatory system. Every time you channel chakra, it has a poisonous effect on the body, it burns all your inner organs, and the bones, making you a cripple."

"And that's why they had to seal our pathways, trapping the cursed energy in our body, never to be used." Roshi finished, and did a complete turnaround. "Oh, but it's also the reason for our cool as hell eyes, so it kinda evens out." Naruto had his best poker face on, but still... he had a pained look on it.

And then he noticed how they looked like... They were practically the same as him!

Roshi, the older brother had silver hair tied back in a short ponytail, but four big bangs still covered his forehead. He also had red eyes, with orange irises. He had dark, tanned skin that was barely covered up, as he was wearing a green sleeveless shirt and a dark green pair of shorts. His body seemed to be quite well developed, as he was two heads taller than Naruto. His muscles were visible, but weren't bulged up or anything. And his fists... were black and blue, as if he spent the last week hitting a mountain (an assumption that was actually correct).

Toshi was something like the opposite. He had short, messy, dark brown hair which looked as if it had never seen a comb. He had the same eyes as his brother, only bigger. He had pale skin, which showed his aversion to the sun, but he couldn't really judge him, seeing that he was paler than white himself. He wore a brown shirt with long sleeves and a pair of dark blue cotton pants. His legs were bare, and looked even worse than his brother's.

"You two... why did you become shino--!!" Naruto didn't have the time to finish his sentence, due to having to sidestep the four kunai coming awfully close to him. He swirled around, with nothing being there.

_'The attack came from the lake?'_ He crouched near the kunai. _'Definitely, the way the kunai embedded themselves into the ground tells me that much... But who could have done it?'_

"It's better if we get away from here, we can't fight in these conditions... Not without walking on water..." He said and started to walk away. He was stopped by Roshi.

"Wait... You mean, you can't use chakra either?" He inquired... and strangely, Naruto turned his head, and offerred him the first genuine smile he ever gave to a Konohan.

"Not at the moment at least." He said, and continued. The brother's shared a look and followed after him.

OooOooO

A while later, as they were jumping from tree to tree, Naruto noticed something.

"We're walking on a road with no end. Let's stop there." He said pointing towards a clearing. It was now day, and they lost track of the time quite a while ago. They jumped down, and found themselves...

"Isn't this where we started?" Toshi remarked while looking around, obviously annoyed.

"Seems like it..." The shinobi from Kirigakure replied, his eyes narrowed. Then, he looked towards the sky and noticed something odd. "Not only that... look!" He said, pointing towards the moonlit sky.

"Th-The moon?! But how?!" Roshi shouted, not believing his eyes. "The sun was still up a minute ago!!" Naruto shook his head.

"That's not it. I think that was supposed to be a hint for us. The real objective of this test is to regain our lost possesions, ne? It's possible that the attack wasn't an attack at all, but an effort to attract our attention. And since it came from the lake... Toshi-san, what's your tanto called?" He demanded.

"Huh? But why--?"

"What is it called?"

"Mizutakemaru." Naruto grinned. So that was it?

"Roshi, what about your kusari-gama?" His inquiry was directed at the older brother who hesistated for a second, but then gave his answer.

"Kurotsuki." Naruto's grin widened. He looked towards the half moon, then towards the lake, and then towards another direction. His impish grin dissapeared, replaced by a visage that exuded seriousness.

"Listen, your tanto is in the lake, and your Kusarigama... We should go towards the moon, that's probably where it is. We'll go after my staff last." He noted. _'I still need to figure out the purpose of this exam, this was by far too easy...' _

Then, promptly, Toshi jumped into the lake, still fully clothed.

"So... Naruto... Why can't you use your chakra?" The older Kurogaki asked. Naruto turned his head towards him.

"I'm sorry, but that information is on a need-to-know basis. And you don't need to know." He said seriously. The silver-haired genin was taken aback. Oh well, he shouldn't have expected anything else, afterall, they were in a team out of neccesity.

"I understand." He said, and Naruto nodded.

"Thank you."

Not a minute later, Toshi swam out of the lake, holding the Mizutakemaru in his left hand.

"You were right!" He shouted as he walked out of the lake, panting. "It was at the deepest point of the lake, so I really had to dive in." He then pressed the tanto against his cheeks, rubbing it lovingly. "I missed you so much..." He whispered, earning a sweatdrop from his brother and the blonde.

"I guess we should go towards the moon--!!" Roshi rolled to the side to avoid a slash. Naruto immedeatilly got into his stance, and Toshi jumped towards the lake to avoid a volley of kunai.

Their attackers consisted of five men, all dressed in black, with hoods on their heads. Each of them had black eyes. All in all, they were perfect clones of each other. Two of them had tanto's in their hands, two had kusarigama's, and the last had a staff.

The one with the daggers went after Roshi, while the ones with the kusarigama's took a slash at the younger Kurogaki. The one with the staff calmly walked towards Naruto.

A trickle of sweat rolled down his cheek... without his staff, he was practically useless in a combat using weapons. Damn it! He closed his eyes, and changed his stance.

_'It's too early to use this, but I don't think I have a choice...'_ Naruto thought, before putting his hands in an x-block, but instead of his fists being balled, they were open.He pulled his left leg back, his right leg about 1 foot infront of it. _'I still haven't mastered it... but I think it's enough to handle him. Let's see how useful you are... Kata Dante!'_ He thought with a grin.

The enemy swiped at him horizontally in a counter clock-wise motion, but the blonde leaned back so that he dodged it, and used his current momentum to send a kick the attackers way before he hit the ground. The man in black had used most of his strength in that swipe, so there was no avoiding it. He staggered back, grabbing his knee in pain, before leaving it aside, and going after the blonde, who meanwhile jumped back into his stance.

This time, it was the blonde who took the initiative, sending a backfist towards the staff-wielder, who brought up the staff in time to block the punch, and then used the other end of the staff to try and land a hit in Naruto's groin. But before it reached any important spots, the Kiri-nin brought his legs together, effectively stopping the staff. Using both his left and right hand, Naruto tried to hit his chest and hand at the same time, but the man in black merely used his free hand to swipe both attacks off.

Now that the threat of the staff was momentarily gone, Naruto took a step back, and with a left high kick, landed a blow on the head of the 'assailant',

Who ducked in time to avoid the complete power of the kick, and then took a swipe with the lower part of the weapon. The blonde sidestepped and with a sword-hand, hit the attacker's neck—Only for him to dissapear in a gust of smoke.

So did the ones who attacked the two Kurogaki brother's.

A pair of blue eyes narrowed... This was by far too easy... He looked downwards... the staff was still there! He picked it up.

"Hmm? Strange... Why would it--?"

Well... it wasn't his, but it would do. He attached it to his back and turned to Roshi.

"Roshi, pick up the weapon they left behind." Only to see that the silver-haired genin already did so. "Nevermind." Roshi merely smirked.

"Let's go." Toshi said. "Towards the moon, right?" Naruto nodded. "Erm... how exactly?"

"By foo—Oh..." Naruto exclaimed once he took notice of the lake. Since they couldn't water-walk... "Swim. We're going to swim." He said.

Roshi chuckled nervously. "Erm... there is a little problem about that..." The blonde turned to him, sending him a fierce glare.

"Don't tell me..."

"I can't swim... ehehe..." He said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. A pair of blue eyes closed and the Kiri-nin let out a sigh. This was going to be a looooong day.

OooOooO

So, in the end, they had to build a makeshoft raft in order to get over, because Roshi was too afraid to swim across. Right now, they were walking towards the moon.

_'Hmm... To leave us in unfamiliar teritory, without telling us the purpose of the test, having shinobi who wield the same weapons as we do attack us... Why? They didn't even give us any advice...'_ Naruto thought, trying to figure all this out.

_'They at least had to give us some hints...'_ His mind raced to remember every word that proctor said.

_'Before the feather dropped... He said something...!!'_

_'Let me give you one piece of last minute advice... Don't let the smokescreen of defeat cloud your judgement and cause you to give up. When there's a will, there's a way.'_ That's it!! There must have been a hint in there!

_'Last minute advice...' _Naruto analyzed the sentence, one word at a time. _'Don't let the smokescreen of defeat cloud your judgement... smokescreen of defeat... smokescreen... There's something in that word... Why would he use it? ...Wait... THAT'S IT!! The exam is a...'_

OooOooO

The foreign quarters

OooOooO

"So this years first exam is... a genjutsu?" One Momochi Zabuza asked a fellow jounin sensei. They were sitting in a bar in the foreign quarters of the ANBU headquarters. Next to Zabuza was a black-haired man with a leaf hitai-ate on, and a cigarette in his mouth.

"A multi-layered one, I've heard. They won't be able to dispell it unless they notice it, and that's going to be pretty tough, even though there will probably be hints." The man noted, taking a puff from his cigarette.

"And how do you know... Asuma, was it?" The Kiri jounin inquired, narrowing his eyes slightly. In reply to the question, Asuma grinned a little.

"My girlfriend was hired to do it." Team thirteen's sensei sweat-dropped.

OooOooO

Back to Naruto

OooOooO

The blonde's hands twisted into a Ram seal, preparing themselves to dispell the illusion...but then he hesistated, taking a look at the two Kurogaki brothers...

_'Wait... I shouldn't just leave them like this... What if it's part of the exam?' _He then took notice of something. _'Oh... right... It's not like I could dispell it now, even if it wasn't part of the exam.'_ He sighed. Finally figuring it out, but unable to use it... Damn it... Then, one of the two brothers called for him.

"Oi... We're almost there." Toshi exclaimed, pointing towards the land. Naruto absorbed his new surroundings.

The grass was a few shades darker, he noted, and the area was totally void of any trees. It was a very narrow clearing, like a beach almost. As soon as they got ashore, Naruto noticed that the terrain was pretty rocky, with a few giant boulders blocking the way.

They all stepped out of the raft and slowly walked over to the boulders.

"Well, this is where the path ends, the moon is right above us..." Roshi noted, crossing his hands. The Kiri-nin brought his thumb to his lips, biting it, trying to think of something.

"Then we've got to break these boulders, that's all I can come up with." Toshi said dully. The blue-eyed blonde sighed... Yeah, he has a wild imagination, doesn't he?

"How? We can't use any chakra, and so far we've only got your weapon, Toshi-san. We have to use these... D-quality weapons here. And my Taijutsu isn't good enough to destroy them." Toshi was smirking and looking at his brother, who had a similar expression on his face.

"You leave that to us."

They dragged themselves right infront of the boulder. The younger brother started stretching his legs, and kicked the air a few times, while Roshi wrapped some bandages around his bruised hands.

_'They can't do it.'_ Naruto thought, looking at them dissaprovingly.

"Hyaaaaah!!" One kick, three punches.

It broke. The dust rose, and when it cleared, it revealed two smirking Kurogaki's. If he was surprised or anything like that, it didn't show on his face.

"Told ya!" Toshi exclaimed. For a few seconds, the blonde remained silent, but finally, he gave his input to the whole situation.

"You know, we could have simply jumped over the boulders..."

OooOooO

They walked through the formerly occupied space, for it to reveal ANOTHER clearing.

_'Yeah... whoever made this genjutsu obviously has one hell of an imagination...'_

In the middle of it was a pedestal, and on it, the Kurotsuki.

Roshi immedeatilly rushed over to it. He picked it up... grinned... and frowned.

"This isn't the Kurotsuki." He turned his head towards his brother and the Kiri-nin. "This is a regular kusarigama."

Naruto's eyes narrowed... Then... what was the whole point of the genjutsu?

"Toshi-san, check your tanto again... is it the Mizutakemaru?" Naruto demanded. Toshi did so, and his eyes narrowed as well.

"No... it's just painted to look like it..." His outside was completely still, while on the inside he was celebrating. Yes... yes... YES!!

_'YES!! Finally! So that's why it felt so strange... It's so ridiculous... that I didn't figure it out sooner...'_

"The weapons we picked up are our real weapons." Naruto noted. "That was the purpose of the test, to figure that out... along with—"

"So we passed?!" Toshi exclaimed happily. The blonde hesistated, but offered him the answer.

"No. The whole test was a genjutsu." He said simply. And as quick as the mood reached him, it left him. And he went to downright depressed.

"That means..."

"We failed again. Heh... Dushako-sensei's goin' to kill us..." The silver-haired genin chuckled weakly. "What's your sensei going to say, Kirikaze?"

The Kirikaze smiled weakly. His hands shifted into the ram seal. "Nothing. I passed."

His eyes turned serious. "KAI!"

OooOooO

Classroom no. 9

OooOooO

A blonde head perked up and looked around, seeing several other genin awake as well.

He shot a quick glance at his back, his staff was there. So he was right.

_'It felt as if it was by my side... because it was. While you can manipulate all five senses with genjutsu, chakra perception is on another planet.'_

He noticed that his two teammates were looking at him. He nodded towards them. He looked at the blackboard, and saw Ibiki standing there, still in the same position he was in before he lost consciousness... Did he even blink?

_'This guy makes Zabuza-sensei seem normal...' _

OooOooO

A while later

OooOooO

When half the class woke up, Ibiki stopped the exam and sent the half that failed home.

"Alright, those of you that figured out my... heh... advice, congratulations. The exam was tough and you're the best of the best of the blah blah blah. Yeah, I'll drop that bullshit. All of you that passed..." He paused. "You are the best... of the losers. The exam was too easy, I expected at least two thirds to fail. Tch... whatever. Now, the second exam is going to be—"

Something jumped through the window, shattering the glass. It landed on two feet and stared at the class dissaprovingly.

"Ibiki..." She said in a low, husky tone that sent shivers up the spine of every male (bar Ibiki) in the room. "I told ya that the genjutsu exam was a bad decision... and look at it now... Now the body count in the Forest of Death is going to be higher than last year..." She said, finally shooting a glance at the black-cladJounin. She then turned to the examinees once again.

"I'm Mitarashi Anko, you little shits, and I'm the proctor for the second exam!"

OooOooO

**Err, yo, KON here. Naruto escap-- err... didn't want to do the notes anymore. Anyway, sup? Hafta apologize for the whole OMG!!RUSHED!Feeling this whole chapter just radiates. It was rushed, but still, I hope you enjoyed it. **

**I gotta go now, but before I do, sorry but, no Anko next chap. **

**...**

**Whoawhoawhoa HOLD IT!! Before you delete this from your story alert list, she'll appear in the fifth chapter. Next chapter shows us how Zabuza found Naruto!**

**Oh and, WTF? Almost SIX THOUSAND hits... and only thirty-three reviews? What's up with that? And the worst thing is that most of these reviews are 'LOLZ, YOU RULE' ones. Man, I've seen Naruto/300 crossovers with more reviews... Ya gonna ruin my selfesteem here guys... **

**But seriously, this story is in 15 c2s, the favourite of 42 people, and is on 99 Story Alerts... and only thirty three reviews? Guys, If you like it, review, if you don't, give me some critique.**

**A'ight, I gotta go now.**

**See ya.**


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